ORIGINAL RESEARCH
Removal of Boron and Arsenic from Petrochemical
Wastewater by Using Aquatic Booster
as Adsorbent
Mohd Halim Shah Ismail1, XiaoTian Zhang1, Mohammed Firdaus Mohd Lazim2
More details
Hide details
1Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Engineering,
Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia
2Faculty of Chemical Engineering and Natural Resources, Universiti Malaysia Pahang,
Leburaya Tun Razak, 26300 Gambang, Kuantan, Pahang, Malaysia
Pol. J. Environ. Stud. 2013;22(2):403-408
KEYWORDS
ABSTRACT
The potential to remove boron and arsenic from petrochemical wastewater by using aquatic booster was
investigated in batch experiment process and the results were measured by inductively coupled plasma mass
spectrometry (ICPMS). The main parameters influencing arsenic and boron adsorption onto the aquatic booster
were contact time, size of particle, agitation speed, and dosage. The initial concentration of boron and
arsenic was fixed by changing contact time (120-480 minutes), agitation speed (0-120 rpm), aquatic booster
dosage (0-55 g/L), and size of particle (2 mm, 1 mm, and 0.60 mm). The adsorption efficiency of arsenic and
boron increases with longer contact time as well as more aquatic booster dosage and higher agitation speed.
However, it tends to achieve equilibrium once the active sites of the adsorbent are fully occupied. On the other
hand, adsorption efficiency decreases with larger adsorbent particle size. The equilibrium time for both boron
and arsenic is 390 minutes. The removal efficiency for boron is around 60.36% by 35g/L dosage, 80 rpm and
a particle size of 0.60 mm at of 390 minutes. As for the arsenic, the condition where it gives the removal percentage
around 71.83% is that particle size of 0.6 mm, 300 minutes contact time, agitation speed of 80 rpm
and dosage of 45g/L. The modeling study shows that the adsorption isotherms for both metals onto aquatic
booster are Freundlich type.