V.A. KHATIK AND S. B. ATTARDE
Abstract
Sawdust is an abundantly available byproduct of the wood industry utilized for various purposes. This study was undertaken to investigate nitrate (NO3 -) removal efficiency of modified saw dust from aqueous solutions. The nitrate removal experiments were performed using cylindrical biosorbent columns with pH, initial concentration, bed height as process parameters. The lowest nitrate removal rate was 27.9 %; on calibration with process parameters removal has improved up to 70.9 %. Assessment of results with statistical parameter (GLM) General Linear Model; shows significant effect of process parameters in the nitrate removal efficiencies. Though removal rate has achieved up to 70.9%; further studies hold scope to calibrate the processing parameters to improve the removal efficiency of biosorbent and test the commercial applicability of the biosorbent.