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An attempt was made to study the potential of rice husk as an alternative cheap precursor for activated carbon to remove Ni2+ from aqueous solution. Rice husk was treated chemically (with NaOH) and physically (carbonization) to prepare rice husk based activated carbon (RHAC). The textural properties of RHAC, i.e. surface area (255 m2/g) and pore volume (0.17 cm2/g), were determined by N2 adsorption using Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) surface analyzer. RHAC was also characterized for its morphology and its elemental compositions. The adsorption studies for the removal of Ni2+ from aqueous solution were carried out using different dosage of RHAC as adsorbent as a function of varied contact time. The concentration of Ni2+ was determined by atomic absorption spectrometer (AAS). The results obtained from adsorption studies indicate good potential of rice husk as a cheap precursor to produce activated carbon for the removal of Ni2+ from aqueous solution. The equilibrium data from adsorption studies fitted well the of Langmuir and Freundlich isotherm models.

The potential of rice husk-based activated carbon (RHAC) as an alternative low-cost adsorbent for the removal of Ni2+ from aqueous solution was studied. RHAC was prepared via chemical treatment using NaOH followed by the carbonization process. The textural properties of rice husk-based activated carbon, i.e. surface area (253 m2/g) and pore volume (0.17 cm2/g), were determined by N2 adsorption. The adsorption studies to remove Ni2+ from aqueous solution using RHAC were carried out at a fixed initial concentration of Ni2+ (150 ppm) with varying RHAC as a function of contact time at room temperature. The concentration of Ni2+ was determined by atomic absorption spectrophotometer (AAS). The maximum removal of Ni2+ was increased from 40% to 89% when the amount of RHAC was increased from 0.1 g to 0.5 g. The isotherm and kinetic analyses showed that equilibrium data of adsorption studies fitted well Langmuir, Freundlich and second order kinetic models.