Heavy metal pollutants present in our water body pose great threats to environment and human health due to their non-biodegradable and bio-accumulative nature This study explored the use of nitric acid–treated Luffa cylindrica seeds adsorbent in removal Ni²⁺, Zn²⁺, and Cu²⁺ ions from aqueous stock solutions in a continuous fixed-bed system. The LC adsorbent was produced at a carbonation temperature of 105oC and characterized using the Fourier Transform Infra-Red (FTIR) Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), and the Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) analytical tool, of which the adsorbent surface area, pore volume, Pore diameter and bulk density were resulted as 23.971m²/g, 0.011cc/g, 2.402 nm, 0.034 g/cm3 respectively by the BET analysis, while the active binding sites where identified by FTIR and SEM. Effect of the LC loaded column adsorption height, injection flow rate and adsorbent particulate size on the adsorption efficiency of LC adsorbent was studied at varied injection fluid (SS) flow rate (5, 10, 15mL/min), the adsorbent bed height (5, 7.5, 10cm) and the initial concentration (5, 10, 15mg/L) defining their corresponding impacts on the Stock Solution (SS) pH, TDS, DO, COD, BOD, and the Ni-Cu-Zn ions amounts (ppm) when dynamically conveyed through Luffa Cylindrica Medium as a treatment measure. Results achieved form the ST treatment potency assessment of LC medium depicts that on the bases of the column loaded height effects, stock solution pH and DO increases proportionally with increase in adsorbent height, while TDS, BOD, COD, and Ni-Cu-Zn ions concentration in the ST reduces dynamically. While on the bases of injected stock solution flow rate it was noticed that the pH and DO increases as the flow rate was within 5 ml/min, before reducing with increase in the fluid flow rate, but TDS, BOD, COD, and Ni-Cu-Zn ions concentration reduces as the stock solution reduces over a flow rate of 5/min after which the properties of water shows lesser recovery nature proportional to increase in the flow rate. The effects of the flow rate on the LC performance tends to be very similar to that experienced for the assessment of the LC adsorbent particulate size effects on the system performance, though the flow rate effects tend to be more effective compared to that caused by increase in the particulate size of adsorbent.
Keywords: Daltons law of partial pressures, Environmental Pollution, Kinetics, Matlab., greenhouse gases (GHGs), material balance, methanol additive, rate law, reactor performance, space time
