ABSTRACT
The lophira alata wood sawdust
that was obtained was washed with distilled water, dried, and divided
into two portions. The first portion was used as the unmodified sawdust
sample while the second portion was first carbonized at a temperature of
600C for 4 hours and later activated using 2M KOH for 24
hours at room temperature. The two samples were used as adsorbent to
adsorb Nickel and Cadmium ions from aqueous solution. The effect of
contact time, sawdust dosage, and the PH, of heavy metal ions removal
has been studied. The physiochemical properties of the two adsorbents
used have also been computed. The results obtained shows that an
increase in sawdust dosage, contact time, and the PH, all resulted in an
increase in the adsorption rate. The results obtained indicated that
the activated-carbonized sawdust adsorbs more than the unmodified
sawdust. The selectivity order of adsorption in terms of adsorption rate
is: Activated-Carbonized sawdust > Unmodified sawdust. From these
results, it is concluded that the lophira alatawood sawdust is a
very good and effective low-cost adsorbent for the removal of heavy
metal ions from contaminated water and the activated-carbonized form of
this sawdust is most preferred for removing toxic contaminants from
waste water.