Ishwari B.K¹, Kumar P.S^2,, Shivaprasad K.H¹

The study focused on assessing the reduction of wastewater toxicity due to heavy metals after treating with fly ash. Fly ash can be a byproduct usually considered as waste material in coal-based thermal power plants. Since Fly ash has the potential to adsorb heavy metal ions, it may be considered a byproduct of a thermal power plant and used as an effective adsorbent to treat industrial wastewater. The present study examined the adsorption capacity of fly ash to adsorb Cd, Cu, and Pb from wastewater under different conditions of contact time, pH, and adsorbent dosages. The uptake of metal ions by fly ash generally rises with increasing pH. Compared to adsorptions at higher temperatures, heavy metal adsorptions were more pronounced at ambient temperatures. The removal % of Cu, Cd and Pb ions increases with increasing adsorbent dose from 4 to 16 g/L, further increase in adsorbent dosage has little effect. Significant reduction in Cd (79%), Cu (98%), and Pb (79%) contents after treatment with fly ash at an optimum flyash dose of 16 g/L. A regression equations for percent removal for Cu Cd and Pb metal ions were generated using Minitab software (trial vesion) and models were tested for their significance by ANOVA test. The isotherm models demonstrate that the heterogeneous nature of the adsorbent controls the adsorption of metals. The utility of flyash sample for removal of metal ion to treat regional metallurgical industrial/ textile effluent shows a sustainable route and best usage of thermal plant waste towards sustainable goal.

fly ash, adsorption, wastewater, removal