Removal of copper from industrial wastewaters by activated carbon prepared from periwinkle shells

The present study aims at the removal of copper from industrial wastewater by using a low-cost adsorbent. Activated periwinkle shell carbon (PSC) was prepared and characterized for various physiochemical properties. To determine copper removal capacity, the performance of PSC was compared with commercial activated carbon (CAC) and a mixture of activated periwinkle shell carbon and commercial activated carbon (PSC:CAC) in a ratio 1:1. The effect of adsorbent dose, contact time, pH, agitation speed and adsorbent particle size was studied for adsorption of copper from wastewater under batch conditions. The result obtained showed that PSC competes favourably with CAC. The maximum adsorption capacity was observed for PSC:CAC with 88.12% removal at an optimal pH of 8. The PSC and CAC had 84.19% removal and 85.15% removal, respectively. The equilibrium data obtained fitted both the Langmuir and the Freundlich models. Good correlation coefficients were obtained for the pseudo-second-order kinetic model.