Umudike Journal of Engineering and Technology

In this study, 0.117g/ml of sodium chloride solution was passed through crushed cow bone and crushed palm kernel shell adsorbents in order to investigate their sorption capacities and to develop Freundlich and Langmuir models for prediction of sorption of chloride wastes with respect to tertiary treatment of wastewater. Effluents were collected at 24 hours intervals and subjected to laboratory tests and analyses using standard methods. Different weights of adsorbents in the range of 100 g, 150 g, 200 g, 250 g, 300 g, 350 g, and 400 g were measured and placed in the lower compartment of the experimental setup. Laboratory tests were conducted on the effluents and residual chlorine, colour and turbidity were determined. For the adsorbents, results show that both adsorbents are very good materials for removal of chloride from wastewater, but sharp contrast existed in terms of sorption of chloride at 100 g and 150 g weights between cow bone and palm kernel in which cow bone gave better removal. An equilibrium existed at 200g weight but beyond that point palm kernel gave better removal though with no significant difference.  For colour removal, both cow bone and palm kernel shell adsorbents are good for colour removal and exhibited equal propensity for colour removal. In turbidity, crushed cow bone though a weak adsorbent for turbidity removal adsorbed only 9% turbidity at 400g weight, while crushed palm kernel shell increased turbidity by 11.49% at 400g weight. The Langmuir model the constants are k_a= -0.024 and q_n =1.34, while for the Freundlich model the constants are K_F =2.22 and c = -0.037.