I.

INTRODUCTION
Over two thirds of Earths surface is covered by water; less than a third is taken up
by land. As earths population continues to grow they will putting too much pressure on
the usage of water. Industries disposes toxic materials and by- products into the inland
waters. The pollution of the worlds freshwater supply is already happening at an
alarming rate, and if we do not take measures to stop whats happening we could be
facing a water scarcity crisis very soon. Many industries contributes in the pollution in
water because of their wastewater they discharge to river or any other form of water.
Heavy metals have been excessively released into the environment due to rapid
industrialization and have created a major global concern. Cadmium, Zinc, Copper,
Nickel, Lead, Mercury and Chromium are often detected in industrial wastewaters,
which originate from metal plating, mining activities, smelting, battery manufacture,
tanneries, petroleum refining, paint manufacture, pesticides, pigment manufacture,
printing and photographic industries. Unlike organic waste, heavy metals are nonbiodegradable and they can accumulate in living tissues, causing various diseases and
disorders; therefore they must be removed before discharge. Research interests into
the production of cheaper adsorbents replace costly wastewater treatment methods
such as chemical precipitation, ion-exchange, electro-flotation, membrane separation,
reverse osmosis, electrodialysis, solvent extraction, etc. are attracting attention of
scientist.

Background of the Study

The idea of this study is to make Arachis Hypogea (peanut hulls) as a bio-adsorbent
on the removal of Lead II concentration. Because of the industries disposal of waste
water, sewage may drain directly into major watersheds with minimal or no treatment.
When untreated, sewage can have serious impacts on the quality of an environment
and on the health of people. Moreover, we want to enhance the potential of peanut hulls
in different parameters.
Lead is the one of the most commonly used elements on the industries today in the
Philippines. It is found in modern life in the forms of batteries, pencils, bullets, etc. As
the demand of consumer goods with lead it will mean that production of lead would also
increase along with it. However, to be able to use lead, it has to undergo certain
processes and causes Lead to generation of waste water mixed together with the lead
pollutants. It is harmful and toxic heavy metal when found in water from the discharge of
industrial wastewater. Lead concentrations in water are increasing progressively in the
Philippines. It is extremely toxic to human health and the environment. Lead toxicity can
cause a number of diseases and also can lead to death when present in human body at
higher concentration than allowable limit. To solve this problem, adsorption by
agricultural waste has been reported to an acceptable method for removal of
heavy metals among the other methods.
Adsorption is the one of commonly use treatment found to be effective in removing
heavy metals from aqueous solution. An adsorbent can be considered as cheap or
low-cost if it is abundant in nature, requires a little processing and is a buyproduct of waste material from agricultural industries. Most adsorption studies

have been focused on untreated agricultural residue such as Rice husk , Banana
peel , Bagasse and Peanut Shell etc.
Among agricultural products, peanut considered as one of the abundant in
the Philippines. In Cagayan Valleys activity of reclaiming its trademark as the peanut
basket of the Philippines. According to National Statistics Coordination Board (NSCB)
has 29.1x103 metric tons production from 2010 to 2012. Several peanut by-products are
produced from crush peanut processes and harvested peanut, including peanut meal,
peanut skin, peanut hull and peanut vine. The peanut hulls obtained when graded
peanuts are passed through shelling machines resulting in peanut kernels and hulls,
which are an abundant agricultural by-product in world. The production of peanut hull
has been estimated to be 230300 g of peanut hull per kg of peanut. The peanut hulls
are plenty, inexpensive, renewable resource and has a capacity to adsorb heavy
metals.
Statement of the problem
The main purpose of this study is to make Arachis Hypogea (peanut hulls) as a bioadsorbent on the removal of Lead II concentration. Specifically it attempts to answer the
following question:
Does peanut hulls have sufficient adsorption capacity on removal of Lead II
concentration in water?
What would be the effect of different parameters on Lead II concentration using
peanut hulls?

Objectives
We propose to review the available literature about using Arachis Hypogea (peanut
hulls) as a bio-adsorbent. In this review we will achieve the following two goals:
1. To provide a low cost alternative adsorbent on removal of Lead II concentration in
water.
2. Determine the effect of pH and Adsorbent Dose on removal of Lead II in Water.
Scope and Delimitation
Scope
In this research several factors such as temperature, shaking speed, contact
time, and pH etc. can affect the removal of Lead II concentration on water but
we only consider two factors. We will conduct analysis prior to our chosen
factors which is pH and Adsorbent dose. We also make some graphs about the
effect of pH and Adsorbent dose variation versus Lead II concentration.
Limitation
The following are the limitations that this research consider:
1. Ambient Temperature
2. No interference
3. Steering speed set to 150 rpm
4. Contact Time is 180 minutes

Republic of the Philippines

EULOGIO AMANG RODRIGUEZ
INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
Nagtahan, Sampaloc, Manila

Effect of pH and adsorbent dose on removal of Lead II

concentration in water using Arachis Hypogea

A Student - Faculty Collaborative Research

Presented to the Faculty of Chemical Engineering Department
EARIST - CEN

In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements

For the Degree Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering

Researchers:

Bonete, Marjorie
Labay, Danica
Moraleda, Evancharl
Paras, Elias