CHED 1157 |
| Agricultural by-products, such as soybean hulls and rice hulls, have been recognized as abundant and inexpensive bio-remediating agents for several types of environmental contaminants. In this study, the capacities of soybean hulls and rice hulls to adsorb copper and arsenic from aqueous solutions were investigated using graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrophotometry. Slurries containing 0.5 grams of sample and 50 ml of a metal standard solution were placed in 250-ml Erlenmeyer flasks and mixed on a magnetic stirring plate for a specified amount of time (2, 24, and 72 hours). In addition to contact time, the influence of sample particle size (as is, 10-20 mesh, and < 10 mesh) and acid treatment was also investigated. After mixing, samples were filtered through a Millipore filtration device using 0.45µm nylon filter paper. Preliminary results indicate that soybean hulls worked fairly well at adsorbing copper. Increasing the contact time did not significantly increase the adsorption. The soybean hulls adsorbed 41% of the copper after 2 hours of contact time, 47% after 24 hours, and 46% after 72 hours. |
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Undergraduate Research Poster Session: Environmental Chemistry
2:00 PM-4:00 PM, Monday, March 26, 2007 Hyatt Regency Chicago -- Riverside Center, Poster
Division of Chemical Education |