Chromium (VI) pollution in hydrosphere: Its impact on human beings and remediation by adsorption

Abstract

Chrome plating, leather tanning, petroleum refining, wood preservation units, pigment and paint industries are main sources of Cr (VI) pollution in water body, masquerade threats to biota life and their treatments are problematic issues. Many wastewater treatment technologies together with adsorption as novel strategy to treat wastewater containing Cr (VI) are proposed in this chapter. Authors developed an inexpensive adsorbent from a very common agrowaste of pulse milling industry with no commercial value, showed good sequestral capacity and proved to be the efficient adsorbent for removal of carcinogenic Cr (VI) from water body. The present chapter incorporates batch type experiments to investigate the effect of various parameters such as solution pH, contact time, initial metal ion concentration and adsorbent dose on Cr (VI) adsorption efficiency of grass pea husk (GPH). The chapter also makes a detailed discussion on different adsorption isotherms and kinetic models proposed by various workers that describes the mechanism of Cr (VI) adsorption. The thermodynamics of adsorption is also detailed. © 2015 by Nova Science Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved.