Catalytic Demetalization of Ni+2 Ions from Aqueous Solutions Using Two Types of Activated Carbon

Abstract

Heavy metals are dangerous contaminants due to their toxic effects on all components of the environment as well as their high toxicity to humans when entering the food chain. The current study aims to investigate the potency of nickel ions demetalization in both practical and statistical parts. The practical portion included the use of two types of activated carbon, namely the ordinary granular activated carbon (GAC) and promoted granular activated carbon loaded with sulfur namely (S-GAC), to complete the demetalization process of nickel from aqueous solutions via batch mode, while the statistical aspect dealt with the representation of the data obtained by multiple regression model using a statistical package STATDISK program. The practical results showed the possibility of demetalization of nickel by GAC and S-GAC adsorbents. The percentage of demetalization efficiency is inversely proportional to the initial concentration of nickel while it was directly proportional to the pH, temperature, agitation speed, the dose of GAC and S-GAC adsorbents and the contact time. The maximum percentage demetalization efficiency reaches to 78.41% and 90.75% for GAC and S-GAC respectively. The results of statistical part show that identical with the practical results and the correlation coefficient R2 values were (0.9988 and 0.9997) and p-values were (3.8×10⁻⁷ and 4.45×10⁻⁷) in case of GAC and S-GAC catalysts respectively.