R.V.

COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING, Bengaluru-560059

(Autonomous Institution Affiliated to VTU, Belgaum)

DEPARTMENT OF BIOTECHNOLOGY

KINETICS OF REACTIONS – LAB

EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING REPORT

Determining the Efficiency of Activated Carbon

from Coconut Shell in Heavy Metal Adsorption

1. Mohammed Bilal - 1RV22BT032

2. Nagashree Brijesh – 1RV22BT035
3. Nishita S – 1RV22BT038
4. Rishika Mohan V- 1RV22BT047

Submitted to:
Dr. M. Rajeshwari
(Department of Biotechnology)
 R.V. COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING, BENGALURU - 560059
(Autonomous Institution Affiliated to VTU, Belgaum)

DEPARTMENT OF BIOTECHNOLOGY

CERTIFICATE

It is certified that the Experiential learning titled Determining the Efficiency of

Activated Carbon from Coconut Shell in Heavy Metal Adsorption is carried out
by Mohammed Bilal, Nagashree Brijesh, Nishita S and Rishika Mohan V are bonafide
students of R.V College of Engineering, Bengaluru, during the sixth semester, in the
year 2024-2025. It is also certified that all corrections/suggestions indicated for the
Internal Assessment have been incorporated in the report. The report has been
approved as it satisfies the academic requirements in respect of Experiential learning .

20

Marks awarded
I. INTRODUCTION

Heavy metal-induced water pollution is an important global public health and environmental
concern. In contrast to organic pollutants, heavy metals like lead (Pb² ⁺) and cadmium
(Cd²⁺) are non-biodegradable, bio-accumulative, and have deleterious toxic effects like
kidney damage, neurotoxicity, and carcinogenicity. Heavy metals usually enter water
systems due to discharges from industrial activities involving battery production,
electroplating, mines, and fertilizer production, so their removal from wastewater is a
serious issue[1].
Traditional treatment processes, such as chemical precipitation, ion exchange, membrane
separation, and electrochemical methods, are usually energy-consuming, expensive, and
ineffectual at low metal levels. On the other hand, adsorption has emerged as a promising,
cost-effective, and easy technique for heavy metal elimination, particularly when employing
inexpensive adsorbents from natural or waste sources[2].
Activated carbon is a very porous material with a high surface area, micro- and mesoporous
structure, and heterogeneous surface functional groups, thus being very amenable to
adsorbing contaminants[3]. Nevertheless, industrially produced activated carbon may be
costly and not sustainable. To address this, agro-waste materials like coconut shells have
proven to be very good precursors in the preparation of activated carbon because of their
high carbon content, hardness, accessibility, and environmental friendliness[4].
Coconut shells were activated into carbon by thermal carbonization in the absence of a
furnace and chemically activated with phosphoric acid (H₃PO₄) and calcium chloride
(CaCl₂). Chemical activation increases the porosity and chemistry of the surface of carbon,
making it have a better adsorption capacity[5]. The carbon that was prepared was screened
for its capacity to adsorb Pb²⁺ and Cd²⁺ from aqueous solutions using batch adsorption tests.
Optimization was done with parameters like pH, contact time, adsorbent dosage, and
initial concentration of metal. Final metal concentrations were analyzed with the help of
Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy and adsorption performance was assessed.
This process not only solves a critical environmental issue but also favors waste
valorization, converting a cheap agricultural by-product into a valuable water cleaning
material. The results are anticipated to lead to the establishment of low-cost, sustainable, and
scalable technologies for heavy metal remediation, especially in settings with limited
resources[6].

II. METHODOLOGY

A. Preparation of Raw Carbon:

1. Cleaning and Drying : Raw coconut shells were well-washed with tap water and then
further with distilled water to desiccate any dirt or debris. The washed shells were air-dried
in sunlight for 1–2 days and oven-dried at 105 °C for 2–3 hours to get rid of any residual
moisture.
2. Carbonization (without Furnace) : The dried coconut shells were put in a sealed metal
vessel with 2–3 pinholes to permit small amounts of air to enter. The vessel was heated on a
Bunsen flame for 45–60 minutes to cause pyrolysis under controlled oxygen-limited
conditions. Once heated, the vessel was cooled to room temperature by natural cooling,
arresting the carbonized material.
 3. Grinding and Sieving : The carbonized sample was milled into a fine powder in a mortar
and pestle. The powder was sieved to achieve a uniform particle size of around 100 µm.
Precisely 5 g of the powder was measured for each chemical activation procedure.
B.

Chemical Activation of Carbon:

1. Activation using Phosphoric Acid (H₃PO₄)
Preparation: 25 mL of concentrated H₃PO₄ was gradually added to 25 mL of distilled water
with agitation to yield a 1:1 acid solution. Soaking: 5 g of activated carbon powder was
poured into this solution in a 100 mL beaker and stirred. The beaker was then covered with
aluminum foil and soaked for 12–24 hours. Washing & Drying: The mixture was filtered,
and the carbon was washed with distilled water until the filtrate became neutral pH (~7). It
was then oven-dried at 110 °C for 3–4 hours and stored in a labeled airtight container as
H₃PO₄-activated carbon.
2. Activation with Calcium Chloride (CaCl₂)
Preparation: 5.55 g CaCl₂ was dissolved in 50 mL distilled water to prepare a 1 M solution.
Soaking: 5 g ground carbon was blended with this solution and soaked for 12–24 hours.
Washing & Drying: The carbon was filtered, washed with distilled water to pH neutral,
dried at 110 °C for 3–4 hours, and reserved as CaCl₂-activated carbon.

C. Preparation of Heavy Metal Solutions:

1. Stock Solutions (1000 ppm):
 Pb²⁺: 1.598 g of Pb(NO₃)₂ was dissolved in 1 L of distilled water. Cd² ⁺: 2.744 g of CdCl₂
was dissolved in 1 L of distilled water.
2. Working Solutions:
Stock solutions were diluted to prepare working concentrations of 10 ppm, 25 ppm, and
50 ppm for both Pb²⁺ and Cd²⁺ ions.

D. Batch Adsorption Experiments;

1. Setup: 50 mL of metal solution was combined with 0.5 g of activated carbon in 100 mL
conical flasks. Both activated carbons were tested separately
2. pH Adjustment: The pH of solutions was set to 6–7 with 0.1 N NaOH or HCl to achieve
the best adsorption conditions.
3. Agitation: Flasks were hand-stirred or agitated with a magnetic stirrer for 60–120 minutes
to provide a good contact between metal ions and the adsorbent.
4. Filtration: The mixtures were filtered through Whatman filter paper, and filtrates were
transferred to clean containers for analysis.

E. Analytical Determination :
1. Final metal concentrations were analyzed using Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy
(AAS).
2. Calibration was done using standard metal solutions to ensure accurate quantification.

F. Calculations:
III. OBSERVATIONS AND CALCULATIONS
The performance of the coconut shell-derived activated carbon in removing heavy metals is
evaluated using two parameters:

1.Adsorption efficiency: The percentage of the metal ions adsorbed onto the carbon.

2.Adsorption capacity (qe) : The amount of metal ion ( in mg) adsorbed per gram of
activated carbon.

where ,
Ci = Initial concentration (mg/L)
Cf = Final concentration (mg/L)
V = Volume of solution (L)
m = Mass of adsorbent used (g)

The AAS results were obtained and the calculations are tabulated below:
Constants used:
Volume of solution (V): 50 mL = 0.05 L
Mass of activated carbon (m): 0.5 g
Contact time: 60–120 minutes
pH maintained: 6–7 (adjusted using 0.1 N HCl or NaOH)
Temperature: Ambient room temperature (~27 °C)
Carbon types: H₃PO₄-activated and CaCl₂-activated

Tabulations:

Table 3.1 : Lead (Pb²⁺) Adsorption Using H₃PO₄-Activated Carbon

Table 3.2: Lead (Pb²⁺) Adsorption Using CaCl₂-Activated Carbon

Table 3.3: Cadmium (Cd²⁺) Adsorption Using H₃PO₄-Activated Carbon

Table 3.4: Cadmium (Cd²⁺) Adsorption Using CaCl₂-Activated Carbon

The comparative plots for Adsorption efficiency vs Initial concentration and Adsorption
capacity vs Initial concentration were generated for both Lead and Cadmium as shown
below:

Fig 3.1 Adsorption Capacity vs Initial Concentration

 Fig 3.2 Adsorption Efficiency vs Initial Concentration

These graphs indicate that:

1. Phosphoric Acid Activation is More Effective :In both graphs, samples activated with
phosphoric acid (H₃PO₄) consistently show higher adsorption efficiency and adsorption
capacity for both Pb²⁺ and Cd²⁺ than those activated with calcium chloride (CaCl₂). 2. Lead
Adsorption is Slightly Higher than Cadmium: The curves for Pb²⁺ lie slightly above those
for Cd²⁺ across all concentrations, indicating that Pb²⁺ is adsorbed more effectively, possibly
due to its ionic size or stronger affinity to the carbon surface[8].
3. Efficiency Decreases Slightly at Higher Concentrations: The adsorption efficiency (%)
tends to slightly decline as the initial concentration increases from 25 to 50 ppm. This
suggests that active sites on the carbon surface may become saturated at higher metal ion
concentrations.
4. Adsorption Capacity Increases with Concentration: The adsorption capacity (qₑ) curves
show a positive linear trend—as the initial concentration of metal ions increases,
more ions are adsorbed per gram of carbon. This indicates that the adsorbent has a good
capacity for metal uptake under higher loads.
5. H₃PO₄ Activation Enhances Surface Properties: The sharper rise and higher endpoints
in the H₃PO₄ curves (for both efficiency and capacity) confirm that phosphoric acid creates
a more porous and functionalized carbon surface, which improves metal ion binding[9]

IV. RESULTS
The effectiveness of coconut shell-derived activated carbon in adsorbing lead (Pb² ⁺) and
cadmium (Cd²⁺) ions was evaluated using two chemical activating agents—phosphoric acid
(H₃PO₄) and calcium chloride (CaCl₂)—across initial metal concentrations of 10, 15, 25,
40, and 50 ppm. The results revealed that H₃PO₄-activated carbon consistently
demonstrated higher adsorption efficiency than CaCl₂-activated carbon. The maximum
removal efficiency was recorded at 25 ppm, reaching 88% for Pb²⁺ and 85.6% for Cd² ⁺ with
H₃PO₄ activation, while CaCl₂-activated carbon showed lower efficiencies, peaking at 77%
for Pb²⁺ and 76% for Cd²⁺. A slight decrease in efficiency at higher concentrations was
observed due to probable saturation of available adsorption sites. The adsorption capacity
(qₑ) increased steadily with concentration, with maximum values at 50 ppm: 4.25 mg/g for
Pb²⁺ and 4.18 mg/g for Cd²⁺ using H₃PO₄-activated carbon, compared to 3.75 mg/g and
3.45 mg/g respectively for CaCl₂. These results suggest that phosphoric acid activation
improves the surface characteristics of the carbon, enhancing metal ion binding.
Additionally, Pb²⁺ generally exhibited higher adsorption than Cd² ⁺, potentially due to
differences in ionic properties[10]. Graphs plotted for both adsorption efficiency and
capacity versus initial concentration supported these findings, with H₃PO₄ consistently
outperforming CaCl₂ in both metrics.
Table 4.1 Comparison Table – H₃PO₄ vs CaCl₂

V. REFERENCES
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[5] L. Jaber et al., “Adsorptive Removal of Lead and Chromate Ions from Water by Using Iron-Doped
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