Some Studies on the Removal of Chromium from Electroplating Industry Waste by the Leaf Powder of Hibiscus mutabilis

Several methods of treatment have been suggested for removal of chromium from wastewaters which include chemical precipitation, reverse osmosis, ion exchange, foam formation, etc. The main disadvantages of the above processes are that they produce large amounts of sludge and there are no possibilities of metal recovery as they are very costly. The use of plants and other plant materials for the removal of the heavy metals has already been reported in the literature as the non-conventional adsorbents. In the present work, an attempt has been made to study the efficiency of removal of chromium using non-conventional adsorbents. Effluent from an electroplating industry was collected and analysed for pH value, acidity, suspended soils, dissolved solids and chromium. Batch experiments were conducted using the diluted effluent to facilitate the comparison of the results with control sample. Hibiscus mutabilis (commonly known as hibiscus plant) leaves were collected locally and were dried, powdered and sieved through standard sieve (I.S. no. 0.075mm). Batch experiments were carried out using this sieved leaf powder. Variation of chromium removal with contact period and dosage of adsorbent is studied using Freundlich plots.