NON-CONVENTIONAL ADSORBENT PREPARED FROM Wrightia tinctoria FRUITS UNDER MICROWAVE HEATING FOR THE REMOVAL OF Ni(II) IONS.

A novel non-conventional activated carbon with good surface characteristics was synthesized using Wrightia tinctoria fruits as a precursor material under two stage microwave heating. The synthesized activated carbon has a BET surface area of 911m2/g. The adsorptive capability of the prepared adsorbent (WAC) was tried using Ni(II) as an adsorbate. The adsorbent WAC removes 36.64 mg of Ni(II) per gram of adsorbent at an initial nickel concentration of 50 mg/L. On increasing the solution temperature from 30 to 45°C, the amount Ni(II) adsorbed by WAC increases from 24.17 to 25.81 mg/g, which substantiates the endothermic nature of adsorption. Freundlich model describes the adsorption with good correlation coefficient of 0.9971 < r² < 0.9997, indicating the heterogeneous nature on the adsorbent surface. Thermodynamic studies indicates the endothermic (positive ΔH°), spontaneous (negative ΔG°) nature as well as the increased randomness (positive ΔS°) at the solid liquid interface. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]