Adsorption of Lead Ions from Aqueous Solutions onto Rice Husks, Continuous System

The continuous system of lead adsorption on rice husks was investigated in this paper. A fixed bed study was performed in many tests to investigate the influence of pH, the adsorbent height, the initial concentration of lead, the flow rate and processing time on the lead adsorption process. The results demonstrated that the lead removal capacity decreased when the pH value of the solution and the flow rate increased. The lead removal capacity increased due to the decreased initial concentration of lead. The results showed that the removal capacity increases along with the processing time and the adsorbent height in column. The largest removal was (81%) at pH of 4, the adsorbent height (50 cm), the initial concentration of lead (10 mg/l), the processing time (90 min.) and the flow rate (10 ml/min.). As a result, rice husks can be used to remove the lead instead of expensive commercial adsorbents, due to its availability, inexpensive and perfect adsorption property.