E PADMINI AND S. SRIDHAR
Abstract
Heavy metals are major pollutants in marine, ground, industrial and even treated wastewaters. The release of these toxic metals into the natural environment has resulted in number of environmental problems. Among many physico-chemical methods available for removal of heavy metals, adsorption is an effective purification and separation technique. The objective of the present is to evaluate the efficiency of Pongamia pinnata barks as sorbent in the treatment of industrial wastes such as electroplating wastewater. The effects of pH, contact time and isotherm models are studied in a batch process. The removal of metals like manganese and zinc were in general most effective at pH7. At 0.25g/L concentration of manganese ion and zinc ion about 43.64% and 30.0% removal are observed in an adsorbent dose of 2.5g/L in 24 hours contact time.