Utilization of agro-waste for removal of toxic hexavalent chromium: surface interaction and mass transfer studies

Abundantly available agricultural waste materials (banana bunch, sorghum stem and casuarinas fruit) are processed with negligible cost and are found to be highly suitable as biosorbents for chromium(VI) removal from aqueous environment due to high surface area and functional groups of adsorbents. The equilibrium data have been analyzed for the adsorbate–adsorbate/adsorbent interactions and found to be fitted to the data in the order, Hill–de Boer ≥ Fowler–Guggenheim ? Frumkin > Kiselev. To determine the characteristic parameters for process design, mass transfer studies have been carried out using two-parameter isotherm models (Harkins–Jura, Halsey, Smith, El-Awady and Flory–Huggins) and three-parameter isotherm models (Redlich–Peterson and Sips) which are applied to the experimental data. The fitness of the isotherms describes that both mono- and multilayer adsorptions occur in the present studied three biosorbents in preference to the latter. The mechanism of adsorption has been studied using diffusion kinetic models (viz. liquid film diffusion, Dunwald–Wagner intra-particle diffusion model and moving boundary model) and described the possibility of diffusion in the order of banana bunch–stem powder > sorghum stem powder > casuarinas fruit powder in terms of diffusion coefficients. In essence of all the results, the selected adsorbents can be used as a potential adsorbent for the removal of Cr(VI) from aqueous solutions.