ADSORPTION OF CHROMIUM (VI) ION IN WATER USING ACTIVATED

CHARCOAL AND BANANA PEEL: KINETIC AND EQUILIBRIUM STUDIES

J.O. Jeje *, P.O. Odetola and O.F. Ogunwobi

1
Department of Civil Engineering, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife..
.
*Email: jemails2000@yahoo.co.uk

ABSTRACT

Due to poor planning and development, pipe borne water is usually not made available to rural
areas. The major source of drinking water in the rural centres is thus the groundwater. It is
therefore important to ensure that the available groundwater is safe for consumption of all
purpose. Studies have shown that Nigeria rural and urban groundwater quality is influenced by
the geology and geochemistry of the environment, rate of urbanization, industrialization,
landfill/dumpsite leachates, heavy metals, bacteriological pollution and effect of seasons. Most
heavy metals become toxic and hazardous to health at high concentrations. Heavy metals can be
reduced in water using several methods but the most effective and cheapest method is the
adsorption process. This research work is primarily based on finding means of reducing the
concentration of heavy metals in water to the minimum by adsorption process using a cheap
adsorbent. Chromium (VI) was used in this experiment by preparing simulated synthetic
chromium (VI) solution which concentration was found using atomic adsorption
spectrophotometer (AAS) to be 9.12 mg/l and pH level was adjusted to 7.0. Activated charcoal
and Banana peel were used as the adsorbents. Batch process was used in this experiment and
variables such as contact time and adsorbent dose were varied. Chromium (VI) concentrations
for each batch process were determined using AAS and pH after adsorption was determined.
Results from the experiment indicated that the adsorption efficiency of Banana peel (68.53%)
was greater than that of Activated charcoal (67%). In order to determine rate process controlling
the adsorption, the results were modelled using kinetic model and it was found that the
adsorption of Cr (VI) onto activated charcoal and banana peel in water was a pseudo second
order process, that is, chemical sorption, for both adsorbents. Langmuir and Temkin isotherm
models were used as projected equation for large scale adsorption of Cr (VI). The projected
model equations from Langmuir model were found to be 85.52% and 78.56% reliable from the
R2 value for activated charcoal and banana peel respectively. The model equations gotten using
Temkin model were discovered to be 74.1% and 76.8% reliable from the R 2 value for activated
charcoal and banana peel. It was therefore concluded that the adsorption of Cr (VI) in water onto
activated charcoal and banana peel fitted more into the Langmuir isotherm model.

Keywords: Adsorption, Adsorbent, Activated charcoal, Banana peel, Chromium

INTRODUCTION

Water from beneath the ground has been exploited for domestic use, livestock and irrigation

since the earliest times. Although the precise nature of its occurrence was not necessarily
understood, successful methods of bringing the water to the surface have been developed and

groundwater use has grown consistently ever since. It is, however, common for the dominant

role of groundwater in the freshwater part of the hydrological cycle to be overlooked.

Groundwater, according to Chapman (1996) is easily the most important component and

constitutes about two thirds of the freshwater resources of the world and, if the polar ice caps and

glaciers are not considered, groundwater accounts for nearly all usable freshwater. Water is

drawn from the ground for a variety of uses, principally community water supply, farming (both

livestock and irrigated cultivation) and industrial processes.

The total replenishable water resource in Nigeria is estimated at 319 billion cubic meters, while

the groundwater component is estimated at 52 billion cubic meters, an indication that Nigeria has

adequate groundwater resources to meet its current water demands. However, with all the efforts

put by various Governments and agencies to improve access to potable water supply to all

Nigerians, it is estimated that only 58% of the inhabitants of the urban and semi-urban areas and

39% of rural areas have access to potable water supply (WHO and UNICEF, 2000). According

to lyasele and ldiata (2011), groundwater provides potable water to an estimated 1.5 billion

people worldwide daily and has proved to be the most reliable resources for meeting rural water

demand in sub-Saharan Africa. Consequently, ground-water quality assessment is invariably

directed towards factors which may lessen the suitability of pumped groundwater with respect to

its potability and use in agriculture and industry. The pollution of groundwater has become a

major environmental issue, particularly where groundwater represents the main source of

drinking water (Maitera et al., 2011). This situation, according to Gordon and Ejenma (2012), is

so common in many lesser developed countries such as Nigeria, that the security of drinking

water supply has been chosen as one of the ten Millennium Development Goals. Groundwater
may thus be polluted in various ways through several means and thereby making it unsafe for

consumption if at high concentration. Among the pollutants are heavy metals, micro-organisms

and industrial waste.

The term heavy metal refers to metallic chemical elements that have relatively high density,

toxic or poisonous at low concentration values. Heavy metals are chemical elements with a

specific gravity that is at least four to five times the specific gravity of water at the same

temperature and pressure (Garbarino et al., 1995; Duruibe et al., 2007). They are natural

components of the Earth's crust that cannot be degraded or destroyed, which would mainly

include the transition metals, some metalloids, lanthanides and actinides. Examples include

copper, zinc, selenium, iron, lead, mercury, cadmium and silver, etc. (Alloway, 1995). Heavy

metals are also classified based on density, atomic weight, chemical toxicity in relation to living

organisms. An alternative term to heavy metals is toxic metals' of which no consensus of exact

definition exists. Some of these metals such as cobalt, chromium, copper, manganese,

molybdenum and zinc are not left out of the list of heavy metals.

Since groundwater is the major source of drinking water in the rural area and even some urban

centres, and it being susceptible to heavy metal contamination, it is therefore necessary to device

a means of removing these contaminants for safe consumption. Treatment processes for metal

contaminated waste streams include chemical precipitation, ion exchange, adsorption and ultra-

filtration; the choice of method is based jointly on the concentration of heavy metals in the

solution and the cost of treatment (Richardson and Harker, 2002). Popular method for the

removal of heavy metals from the waste water is adsorption or biosorption. Activated carbon is

the most widely used adsorbent medium but recent researches have shown that low cost media
such as banana peel, orange peel, palm tree leaves, etc. are also not only economic but also

effective and efficient in metal removal in water.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Materials

Materials used for this work includes: distilled water, potassium dichromate powder (K 2Cr2O7),

sodium hydroxide pellets (NaOH), hydrochloric acid (HCl), activated charcoal, banana peel and

filter paper. These materials were got from the Water and Environmental Engineering

Laboratory, Department of Civil Engineering, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife. Some were

prepared in the laboratory while others were bought from the market in Ife town

Methods

In order to have a controlled experiment, a simulated synthetic solution of Cr(VI) of a known

prepared concentration was used instead of raw surface or ground water. This has reduced the

interference of other heavy metal ion and pollutants in the experiment. The method is sections

which include; the preparation of the adsorbent, the preparation of the simulated synthetic

solution, adsorption process, testing the concentration of Cr(VI) and pH determination.

Preparation of the adsorbent

Two adsorbent agents were used for this experiment, which include the activated charcoal and

banana peel.

Activated charcoal used was the one prepared directly from the factory was bought from the

market. The manufacturer is BDH Chemicals Ltd, Poole, England.

Matured yellow banana peels were collected from Awolowo hall of residence, Obafemi

Awolowo University, lle-Ife. The peels were cut into small pieces and washed thoroughly with
distilled water three times and then dried in the sun for five days. The dried peels were grinded to

powder and then rinsed with distilled water to remove any impurities. The rinsed and grinded

banana peel powder was then poured into tray and dried in the oven for twenty-four hours at a

temperature of 100°C, after which it was sieved to particle size fraction using sieve no 40 (425

µm) to increase its surface area. The banana peel powder was then store in a cool dry place until

it was being used.

Preparation of Cr (VI) simulated synthetic solution (adsorbate)

Chromium (VI) stock solution was prepared by dissolving Potassium Dichromate (K 2Cr2O7) in

distilled water. 2.83 g of K2Cr2O7 was dissolved in 1000 ml of distilled water to give a stock

solution containing 1000 mg/l of Cr (V). To achieve a concentration of 10 mg/l from the stock

solution, the dilution formula was used. The pH of the prepared solution was then adjusted to 7.0

to meet the limit set by WHO (2006) by adding 0.1 N HCl and 0.1 N NaOH as required. This

solution was then taken to the Centre for Energy Research and Development (CERD), Obafemi

Awolowo Universtiy, lle-lfe to confirm the initial concentration of Cr (VI) using Atomic

Absorption Spectrophotometer.

Adsorption using activated charcoal and banana peel

Batch method was adopted in this work. In order to determine the effect or physicochemical

parameters such as pH, adsorbent dose and contact time, the adsorption experiments were

performed by batch equilibrium method. The experiments were carried out in 250 ml of beaker

by mixing a pre-weighed amount of adsorbent with 100 ml of the metal ion solution. All

experiments were performed at room temperature (27°C) and kept for stirring on the mechanical

stirrer at a speed of 180 rpm for given period of time. Table 1 shows the schedule of the

experiment code name against varying contact time, adsorbent dose and the adsorbent agent.
After being stirred, each sample was filtered and the filtrate kept in a thoroughly washed and

rinsed bottle for further tests.

Determining the concentration of Cr (VI) after adsorption

The samples were appropriately labeled and taken to the laboratory at the Centre for Energy

Research and Development (CERD) for analysis of Cr (VI) using Alpha 4, Atomic Absorption

Spectrophotometric, (Chem. Tech Analytical) using standard methods established by APHA

(1992) for metals determination. Preparation of samples was carried out using acid digestion.

Exactly 2.5 ml of concentrated HNO3, was added to 25 ml of water sample in a clean Teflon

beaker before 2ml of sample was injected into the machine by flow method. Detection limit was

set for the range of 0.2 - 1.0 mg/l. pH of each filtrate was determine using Hanna HI 2211

pH/ORP meter.

Table 1: Schedule of the adsorption experiment

Mass of the adsorbent dose (g) in 100ml of Cr(VI) solution

Contact 1g 2g 3g 4g 5g
Time
AC BP AC BP AC BP AC BP AC BP
(min)
5 1 26 2 27 3 28 4 29 5 30

10 6 31 7 32 8 33 9 34 10 35

20 11 36 12 37 13 38 14 39 15 40

30 16 41 17 42 18 43 19 44 20 45

40 21 46 22 47 23 48 24 49 25 50

Note: AC – Activated Charcoal

 BP – Banana Peels

The numbers are for each experiment label

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Effect of contact time on adsorption

Effect of contact time using Activated charcoal and Banana peel were studied by varying time of

contact from 5 min to 40 min and results were shown in Figure 1 and Figure 2 respectively. It

was observed that the percentage adsorption of chromium ion was increasing with time until a

time is reached when there was no more increase and at a point, a decrease was observed. The

general pattern of the curve in Figure 1 revealed that the optimal removal efficiency are 67% and

68.53% for activated charcoal and banana peel respectively at the equilibrium time of 30

minutes.

Effect of adsorbent dose on adsorption

The effect of the adsorbent dose on the adsorption of Cr (VI) in water was investigated at

optimum removal or at equilibrium time. The concentration of chromium was reduced by

36.29%, 44.08%, 53.07%, 65.13% and 67.11% for 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 g of activated charcoal

respectively after treatment. For banana peel, the concentration was found to have been reduced

by 31.03%, 42.11%, 53.29%, 68.09% and 68.53% respectively for 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 g respectively

after treatment. Metals adsorption efficiency was increased with increase in adsorbent dose.

Between 1 g and 3 g, there were large increase in adsorption and between 4 g and 5 g there was

little increase in adsorption, this revealed that the adsorption sites remain unsaturated during the
adsorption reaction from 1 g to 3 g whereas the number of sites available for adsorption site

increases by increasing the adsorbent dose until the site became saturated at 4 g to 5 g,

Adsorption of chromium with varying adsorbent dosage is shown in Figure 2.

pH level after treatment

To determine the effect of adsorption dose and contact time on pH of water, the pH of the treated

water samples were taken using Hanna HI 2211 pH/ORP meter. It was discovered that the pH of
 (a)

Adsorption of Cr (VI) using Activated charcoal.

(b) Adsorption of Cr (VI) using Banana peel.

Figure 1: Effect of contact time on adsorption of Cr (VI) in water.

Figure 2:

Comparing the effect of adsorbent dose (activated charcoal and banana peel) on

adsorption of Cr (VI) in water.

the treated water drastically reduced from neutral to very acidic. As contact time increases, pH

reduces. Also, as adsorbent dose was being increased, the pH was being reduced. Table 2 shows

variation in pH level as contact time was being increased for 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 g adsorbent dose.

Table 2: Result of pH of water after adsorption process

pH of water after adsorption

Contact 1g 2g 3g 4g 5g
Time
AC BP AC BP AC BP AC BP AC BP
(min)
5 4.47 6.78 2.75 6.54 1.83 6.40 1.58 6.14 1.47 5.88

10 2.51 6.47 2.11 6.37 1.76 6.09 1.53 5.98 1.46 5.84

20 2.04 6.10 1.81 5.69 1.57 5.77 1.54 5.68 1.43 5.59

30 2.02 6.00 1.74 5.75 1.56 5.51 1.49 5.16 1.40 5.28

40 1.97 5.46 1.70 5.50 1.63 5.37 1.45 5.22 1.40 5.10
Note: AC – Activated Charcoal and BP – Banana Peels

Deduction from the preliminary results

Comparing the optimum percentage adsorption of activated charcoal and banana peel, it was

discovered that banana peel has a greater efficiency in chromium removal than the activated

charcoal. Figure 3 is a bar chart comparing the effectiveness of both adsorbent media in terms of

their equilibrium concentration, that is, concentration after treatment. It was also discovered that

water treated with activated charcoal was more acidic than that treated with banana peel.

Therefore, it would be more preferred to use banana peel to treat or reduce the concentration of

chromium (VI) in water.

Figure 3:

Comparing the adsorption of Chromium (VI) in water using Activated charcoal and

Banana peel

Adsorption Kinetic Modelling

To find the potential rate-controlling steps involved in the process of adsorption of Cr (VI) onto

activated charcoal and banana peel activated carbon in water, both pseudo fist-order and pseudo

second-order kinetic models have been used to fit the experimental data. Kinetic study was

carried out at optimized conditions from 5 to 40 min. The sorption was observed to be very fast,

equilibrium attained within 30 min. The removal was greater than 65% for both activated

charcoal and banana peel with very little increase in sorption after 30 min of contact time.

Pseudo first-order kinetic model

The pseudo-first-order kinetic model was described by Lagergren (1898) as:

dqt
=K 1 (q e−qt ) (1)
dt

The linear form is given as;

ln ( qe −q t ) =ln q e−k 1 t (2)

Where:

qe (mg/g) is the adsorbent capacity at equilibrium,

qt (mg/g) is the adsorbent capacity at any time t,

K1 (min-1) is the rate constant of pseudo first order adsorption process.

The kinetic of the adsorption process of both activated charcoal and banana peel was studied for

a dose at 1 g to 5 g. Table 2 gives the summary of the analysis and parameter of the pseudo first

order kinetic model. It is seen from Table 2 that the values of qe exp varied considerably that of

qe cal. The R2 value for each dose are generally low, these observations suggested that the

pseudo-first-order model is not suitable for modeling the adsorption of Cr(VI) onto activated

charcoal and Banana peel.

Pseudo second-order kinetic model

The model has the following form;

dqt 2
=K 2 ( qe −q t ) (3)
dt

The linearized form is given as;

1 1 1
= + (4)
qt k 2 q e qe
2

Where;

qe (mg/gs) is the adsorbent capacity at equilibrium,

qt (mg/g) is the adsorbent capacity at any time t,

k1 (mgg-1min-1) is the rate constant of pseudo second order adsorption operation.

The calculated parameters for the data of second order kinetic model were summarized in Table

3. The correlation coefficient was nearly equal to unity and calculated q e cal value was very close

to the experimental value of qe exp. The results indicated that the pseudo-second-order

adsorption mechanism is predominant for the adsorption of Cr (VI) onto activated charcoal and

banana peel and it is considered that the rate of the Cr (VI) adsorption process is controlled by

the chemisorptions process, that is, the rate-limiting step is the chemical sorption or

chemisorptions involving valance forces through sharing or exchange of electrons between

sorbent and adsorbate as covalent forces (Ofomaja, 2008).

Adsorption Isotherm Modelling

Adsorption equilibrium data were fitted to the Langmuir and Temkin isotherms. The data being

the values taken at equilibrium time which in most of the experimental results taken as 30
mnutes. Necessary parameters such as the qe, Ce and T values were calculated before being

plotted into the isotherm models.

Langmuir isotherm model

Langmuir isotherm is based on the monolayer adsorption of chromium ions on the surface of

absorbent sites and is expressed as;

Table 2: Calculated kinetic parameters for pseudo first-order kinetic model for the adsorption of

Cr (VI) using activated charcoal and banana peel

Activated Charcoal

Dose (g) qe exp (mgg-1) qe cal (mgg-1) K1(min-1) R2

1 0.331 0.192 0.057 0.990

2 0.201 0.080 0.031 0.883

3 0.161 0.064 0.020 0.824

4 0.149 0.027 -0.002 0.001

5 0.123 0.034 0.098 0.920

Banana Peel

Dose (g) qe exp (mgg-1) qe cal (mgg-1) K1(min-1) R2

1 0.283 1.004 0.201 0.814

2 0.192 0.057 0.036 0.092

3 0.162 0.022 0.017 0.403

4 0.155 0.064 0.020 0.824

5 0.125 0.017 0.055 0.574

qe cal- calculated values of qe; qe exp- experimental values of qe

Table 3: Calculated kinetic parameters for pseudo second-order kinetic model for the adsorption

of Cr (VI) using activated charcoal and banana peel

Activated Charcoal

Dose (g) qe exp (mgg-1) qe cal (mgg-1) K1(min-1) R2

1 0.331 0.363 0.494 0.982

2 0.201 0.200 1.380 0.962

3 0.161 0.151 1.982 0.940

4 0.149 0.150 1.675 0.906

5 0.123 0.125 6.175 0.998

Banana Peel

Dose (g) qe exp (mgg-1) qe cal (mgg-1) K1(min-1) R2

1 0.283 0.452 0.099 0.835

2 0.192 0.196 0.922 0.901

3 0.162 0.151 25.589 0.995

4 0.155 0.161 3.524 0.998

5 0.125 0.126 8.616 0.999

qe cal- calculated values of qe; qe exp- experimental values of qe

 Q max K l C e
qe= (5)
1+ K l Ce

The linear form as given as Netzer and Wilkinson (1974) is expressed as;

1 1 1 1
= + (6)
qe Qmax K l Qmax C e

Where;

Qe (mg-1) is the adsorption capacity at equilibrium,

Ce (mgl-1) is the equilibrium concentration,

Qmax is the maximum monolayer adsorption capacity,

Kl is the Langmuir constant (L/mg) related to the energy of adsorption.

The chart of the Langmuir isotherm which is the plot of l/q e against l/Ce IS Shown in Figure 4 for

both the adsorbent agents - activated charcoal and banana peel. The necessary parameters were

as shown in Table 4. The maximum monolayer adsorption capacity, Q max Was found to be -2.016

and 0.615 mg/g for activated charcoal and banana peel respectively. The correlation coefficients

(R2) are 0.855 and 0.786 for activated charcoal and banana peel. This clearly suggests that the
adsorption of Cr (VI) onto activated charcoal and banana peels follows the Langmuir isotherm

though activated charcoal seems to fit much better because it has higher R 2 value. The RL values

for both adsorbent were also calculated. RL is dimensionless constant referred to as the separation

factor and was calculated as derived by Webber and Chakravarti (1974) in the following

equation:

1
R L= (7)
1+ K L CO

(a) Langmuir isotherm chart for the activated charcoal

 (b) Langmuir isotherm chart for the banana peel

Figure 5: Langmuir isotherm chart for Cr (VI) at initial concentration of 9.12 mg/l

Table 4: Langmuir isotherm parameters at initial concentration of 9.12 mg/l

Adsorbent Qmax (mgg-1) KL(lmg-1) RL R2

Activated -2.016 -0.0196 1.220 0.855

charcoal
Banana peel 0.615 0.0975 0.529 0.786

Where Co (mgl-1) is the initial concentration.

Temkin isotherm model

This isotherm contains factors that explicitly take into account of adsorbent-adsorbate

interactions. As implied in the equation, its derivation is characterized by a uniform distribution

of binding energies (up to some maximum binding energy) was carried out by plotting the

quantity adsorbed qe against lnCe and the constants were determined from the slope and intercept.

The model is given by the following equation (Tempkin and Pyzhev, 1940);

RT
qe= ln ( A T Ce ) (8)
bT

This was then linearized to become;

RT
qe= ln AT + ¿)lnC e (9)
bT

Where;

qe is the equilibrium adsorption capacity

AT is the Temkin isotherm equilibrium binding constant (L/g),

bT is the Temkin isotherm constant,

R is the universal gas constant (8.314J/mol/K),

T is the Temperature at 300K and

Ce is the equilibrium concentration.

Figure 5 is a graph showing the plot of q e against InCe, for doses at 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5g. Figure 5a

shows the chart for activated charcoal and Figure 5b is the chart for banana peel. Table 5 shows

the summary of the needed parameter from the plot. The R 2 values for activated charcoal and

banana peel were 0.741 and 0.768 respectively. The R 2 value of banana peel was higher than that

of activated charcoal which showed that banana peel fitted well into the Temkin isotherm model

than activated charcoal.

Application of the Adsorption Isotherm Model

Isotherm's model application is a way of making projection from the experiment results

commercial purpose. Langmuir and Temkin adsorption isotherm models were used in this work

for the projection. Given that the adsorption capacity (mg/g) was calculated using the formulae

reported by Vanderborght and Van Griekenm (1977) as:

(CO −C e )
qe= (10)
m

Where;

V(l) is the volume of water to be treated,

Ce (mg/l) is the required concentration of the treated water, and

m (g) is the adsorbent mass.

 (a) Temkin isotherm chart for activated charcoal

(b)

Figure 5: Temkin isotherm chart for Cr (VI) at initial concentration of 9.12 mg/l

Table 5: Langmuir isotherm parameters at initial concentration of 9.12 mg/l

Adsorbent AT (l/g) bT R2

Activated charcoal 0.531 10163.6 0.741

Banana peel 0.818 16509.35 0.768

Langmuir isotherm parameter

Equating equations (5) and (10) and making 'm' the subject of the formula, the projected mass for

reducing the concentration of Cr(VI) in water can be given as;

( 1+ K l Ce ) ( C o−C e ) V
m= (11)
Qmax K l C e

Substituting the Langmuir parameters from this experiment, equation (11) becomes;

Activated Charcoal:

( 1−0.0196C e ) ( Co −C e ) V
m= (12)
0.0395 Ce

Banana Peel:

( 1+0.0975 C e ) ( C o−C e ) V
m= (13)
0.0600C e

Temkin Isotherm Parameter

Equating equations (8) and (10) and making 'm' the subject of the formula, the projected mass for

reducing the concentration of Cr(VI) in water can be given as;

(cO −C e ) bT V
m= (14)
RTlnA T C e

Substituting the Temkin parameters from this experiment, equation (14) becomes;

Activated Charcoal:

4.075 V (C o−C e )
m= (15)
ln 0.531 C e

Banana Peel:
 6.619 V (C o−C e )
m= (16)
ln 0.818 Ce

CONCLUSION

Based on the outcome or the results and analysis of this research work, the following conclusions

were drawn;

1. Optimum adsorption time for chromium (VI) ion removal at the specified adsorption dose for

both activated charcoal and banana peel was found to be thirty minutes. This indicates that for

large scale removal of Cr (VI), the effective contact time would be thirty minutes.

2. Maximum adsorption was found to be 67% and 68.53% at 5 g for activated charcoal and

banana peel respectively. This showed that banana peel has greater adsorption efficiency than

activated charcoal. It was discovered that metals adsorption efficiency increases with increase

in adsorbent dose. Maximum efficiency was reached at 5 g at which after this dose, little or no

adsorption may be achieved.

3. Water treated with activated charcoal tends to be more acidic that water treated with banana

peel. It was observed that the longer the contact time, the more acidic the treated water using

both adsorbent. Also, the higher the dose, the lower the pH. This showed that at maximum

adsorption efficiency, the pH was very low indicating acidity. The lowest for activated

charcoal being 1.40 and that of banana peel being 5.10. It would therefore be safe to conclude

that for large scale treatment, adjustment of pH would be cheaper if banana peel was used

than activated charcoal.

4. Considering the isotherm model, it was discovered that activated charcoal fitted more into the

Langmuir model than banana peel. The coefficient of determination (R2) for activated

charcoal (0.855) was greater than that of banana peel (0.786). This implied that our projected

equation for large scale treatment with respect to Langmuir model would be 85.5% accurate

using activated charcoal and 78.6% using banana peel. On the contrary, for Temkin model,

the probability of accuracy of the projected equation for banana peel (76.8%) would be

greater than activated charcoal (74.1%). Also it was found that the adsorption of Cr (VI) in

water onto activated charcoal and banana peel fitted more into the Langmuir isotherm.

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