Characterization of Sodium Carbonate (Na2CO3) Treated Rice Husk Activated Carbon and Adsorption of Lead from Car Battery Wastewater

The use of rice husk as adsorbent would not only reduce its disposal problems, but would also produce value-added products, such as activated carbon derived from rice husk. This study aimed to determine the optimum carbonization temperature for activated carbon production from rice husk and its adsorption performance on Pb in car battery wastewater. In this study, activated carbon was produced by carbonizing rice husk 400-600 °C for 90-150 minutes followed by chemical activation using 5% Na2CO3 and sieving to 100 meshes. Lead adsorption was measured using atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS). Results suggested that highest carbon yield of 47.75% was obtained for carbonization at 500 °C for 150 minutes. At that condition, produced activated carbon contained 3.35% moisture, 30.86% ash, 18.04% volatile matter. The adsorption capacity was found to be 0.6007 mg lead/g adsorbent with % adsorpsi 58.08%