Coir pith activated carbon for the removal of organics and dyes from aqueous solutions

Abstract

Drinking water sources in developing and underdeveloped countries are facing serious threat from contamination problems due to both man-made industrial and agricultural activities and natural sources such as minerals. In many developing countries ground water is used for drinking purposes and it is pollutes with toxic anions, heavy metals, organic compounds and dyes due to effluent from industries. These unwanted chemicals cause health problems, when they exceed the tolerance limits in water.

The removal of pollutants from wastewater can be carried out by Coagulation/Flocculation, Ozonation, Adsorption or membrane separation. Most of these methods suffer from, drawbacks such as high capital and operational cost and there are problems in disposal of sludge. The use of activated carbons to remove tracer pollutants from water is widely extended because of their high surface area, microporous character and the chemical nature of their surface.