4. Conclusion
The chemically activated charcoal has higher adsorption capacity
than the raw charcoal for Ni(II) and Zn(II). This can be attributed by
larger surface area of activated charcoal, which was confirmed by BET
surface analysis. The scanning electron microscope also shows that
activated charcoal has larger pore size than raw charcoal. The FTIR
spectra data shows the presence of different functional groups are
involved in metal adsorption. The maximum adsorption of Ni(II) was
obtained as 9.452 and 52.91 mg/g for MBRC and MBAC, respectively.
Zn(II) qmax value was 4.723 and 40.485 mg/g for MBRC and MBAC,
respectively. The kinetics of adsorption follows pseudo-second-order
reaction. M. baccifera charcoal powder adsorption process is highly reproducible and efficient. It can be used at large scale removal various heavy metals from the contaminated aqueous media.