International Journal of Scientific Engineering and Technology (ISSN : 2277-1581) Volume No.2, Issue No.1, pp : 22-25 1 Jan. 2013 IJSET@2013 Page 1 Adsorbent from Pongamia Pinnata Tree Bark for Zinc Adsorption Mamatha.M 1 , Aravinda. H. B 2 , Puttaiah. E.T 3 , Manjappa. S 4 1 Department of Chemical Engineering, Bapuji Institute of Engineering and Technology, Davangere, Karnataka, India. 2 Department of Civil Engineering, Bapuji Institute of Engineering and Technology, Davangere, Karnataka, India. 3 Gulbarga University, Gulbarga. 4 Department of Chemistry, Bapuji Institute of Engineering and Technology, Davangere, Karnataka, India 1 mamta5252@gmail.com Abstract—In the recent years, Pongamia pinnata trees are widely grown at farms for its seeds utilised for biofuel activities. Due to the easy availability of this tree bark, it is used as a viable adsorbent for removing some heavy metals from aqueous and waste water. In this context, the adsorption of Zinc on prepared adsorbent is very effective. In this study, investigations were made for the adsorption of zinc ions from aqueous and waste water. Batch adsorption studies to determine the optimum conditions of zinc ion removal were conducted to know the influence of experimental conditions such as pH of the solution, metal ion concentration, amount of adsorbent and contact time at room temperature. The results obtained show that the optimum pH range for the zinc removal is 5 – 5.4 and adsorption percent is higher than 95 %. Kinetic study was also made to determine rate constants. Keywords—Adsorbent, Adsorption Isotherms, Effluent, Kinetics, Pongamia pinnata, Zinc. I. INTRODUCTION Increase in the population and present day life conditions have proven demanding needs of various types of materials. This in turn has led to growth of a number of industries. Alarming increase in the number of industrial and domestic activities has caused environmental degradation due to accumulation of pollutants into the surroundings. In this regard, effects of heavy and toxic metal ions because of their non- biodegradability are a major issue of the present day. Assimilation of high levels of zinc through food and water can result in metal fume fever, stomach cramps, skin irritations, anaemia, damage pancreas, disturb protein metabolism, arteriosclerosis and respiratory disorders etc., Zinc can interrupt the activity in soils, as it negatively influences the activity of microorganisms and earthworms. The breakdown of organic matter may seriously slow down because of this. [1] Zinc is widely used in various industries such as automobile industry, rubber, paints, pigments and iron and steels, plastics, cosmetics, photocopier paper, wall paper, printing inks, pharmaceuticals and metal industries. [2] As a consequence, industrial effluents are contamined with zinc. Hence, removal to permissible levels of zinc is essential. [3] Conventional methods for treating effluents, such as precipitation, redox, membrane technologies, electrolysis etc., are both costly and have problem of secondary waste such as sludge.[4] The safe disposal of sludge is another issue for the industry. In this context, adsorption has proven to be a better option with large varieties of adsorbents available that overcomes the problem of sludge formation and disposal as many of these adsorbents are biodegradable. [5] Thus adsorbents such as fly ash [6], zeolites [7], biosorbents [8], polymers [9], cassava [10], Agricultural waste [11], aquatic macrophytes [12], bagasse and rice husk [13] etc., are reported in literature for zinc removal from effluents. The present study was carried out to assess the potential of adsorbing zinc from aqueous and waste waters onto adsorbent prepared by using Pongamia pinnata tree bark. Adsorption isotherm and kinetics parameters have been studied. II. MATERIALS AND METHODS A. Preparation of Adsorbent Pongamia pinnata bark was collected in the study area, Davangere, Karnataka, India. The raw bark was Sun dried for 3 days, oven dried at 80 0 C for six hours in hot air oven. Dried bark was powdered in pulverizer and washed several times with double distilled water to remove solubles, again dried in hot air oven at 60 0 C for 8 hours. The powdered bark was sieved (Indian Standard Sieve) and various fractions of adsorbent was separately stored in air tight containers.