Modification of Rice Husk-Based Activated Carbon using Sodium Lauryl Sulfat (SLS) for Lead (Pb) Ions Removal

Abstract

A rice husk-based active carbon modified using SLS surfactant showed an increase on Pb ionic metal removal with the efficiency of 99.96%. Activated carbon is commonly applied as adsorben in waste water treatment, in particularly, waste water containing heavy metals and dye molecules. Even though it is commonly used, the adsorption efficiency of activated carbon to the heavy metal waste is still low. Therefore, in the present work, carbon from rice husk was modified using surfactant which further it is called surfactant modified active carbon (SMAC). Firstly, rice husk-based carbon was activated using 40% H3PO4 for 2, 6, 10, 14, 15 and 16 hours. The activated carbon was then modified by contacting it into SLS in different concentration 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60 and 70 ppm for 5 hours. Finally, the SMAC was then applied to remove Pb ionic metal. Moreover, several characterisation techniques were performed including FTIR, SEM, UV-Vis and AAS. Keywords: activated carbon, surfactant-modified active carbon, adsorption, rice husk