Advances in Environmental Research 7 (2003) 471–478

Activated carbon from coconut coirpith as metal adsorbent:

adsorption of Cd(II) from aqueous solution
K. Kadirvelu*, C. Namasivayam
Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO), Centre for Environment and Explosives Safety (CEES),
Metcalfe House, Delhi 110054, India

Accepted 21 February 2002

Abstract

Activated carbon prepared from coirpith, an agricultural solid waste by-product, has been used for the adsorption
of Cd(II) from aqueous solution. Parameters such as the agitation time, metal ion concentration, adsorbent dose and
pH were studied. The adsorption data fit well with the Langmuir and Freundlich isotherm models. The adsorption
capacity (Q0) calculated from the Langmuir isotherm was 93.4 mg Cd(II)yg at an initial pH of 5.0 at 30 8C for the
particle size 250–500 mm. The percent removal increased with pH from 2 to 4 and remained constant up to pH 10.
Desorption studies were performed with dilute hydrochloric acid. Quantitative recovery of the metal ion is possible.
The mechanism of adsorption seems to be ion exchange. As coirpith is discarded as waste from coir processing
industries, the carbon is expected to be an economical product for metal ion remediation from water and wastewater.
䊚 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Coirpith carbon; Cd(II) adsorption; Kinetics; Isotherms; pH; Desorption

1. Introduction water and wastewater before its transport and cycling

Rapid industrialization has led to increased disposal
of heavy metals into the environment. Cadmium is
introduced into water from smelting (Buchaver, 1973),
metal plating, cadmium nickel batteries, phosphate fer-
tilizers, mining, pigments, stabilizers, alloy industries
and sewage sludge (Kadirvelu, 2000). The harmful
effects of cadmium include a number of acute and
chronic disorders, such as itai-itai disease, renal damage,
emphysema, hypertension and testicular atrophy (Kadir-
velu, 2000). In India the tolerance limit for cadmium
for discharge into inland surface waters is 2.0 mgyl
(ISI, 1982) and for drinking water is 0.01 mgyl (IS,
1991). Hence, it is essential to remove Cd(II) from
*Corresponding author. Tel.: q91-422-880716; fax: q91-
422-422387.
E-mail address: kadirvelu@mailcity.com (K. Kadirvelu).
into the natural environment.
With better awareness of the problems associated
with cadmium came an increase in research studies
related to methods of removing cadmium from waste-
water, for which a number of technologies have been
developed over the years. The most important technol-
ogies include chemical precipitation, electroflotation, ion
exchange, reverse osmosis and adsorption onto activated
carbon (Poon, 1986). These methods are not cost-
effective in the Indian context. Low-cost and non-
conventional adsorbents include agricultural wastes,
such as natural compost, Irish peat, planer shell, walnut
shell, and biomass, such as Aspergillus tureens and
Macular remanniamus (Azab and Peterson, 1989), chi-
toson (Muzzarelli and Rocchetti, 1986), and peat moss
(Chaney and Hundemann, 1979). Oxidized anthracite
(Petrov et al., 1992) silica gel (Filho et al., 1995),
bituminous coal (Singh and Rawat, 1994), goethite

1093-0191/03/$ - see front matter 䊚 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
PII: S 1 0 9 3 - 0 1 9 1 Ž 0 2 . 0 0 0 1 8 - 7
472 K. Kadirvelu, C. Namasivayam / Advances in Environmental Research 7 (2003) 471–478
Fig. 1. Effect of agitation time and initial Cd(II) concentration on the adsorption of Cd(II). Conditions: initial pH 5.0; carbon
concentration 20 mgy50 ml.
(Johonson, 1990), blast furnace sludge (Degodo et al.,
1998), red mud (Apak et al., 1998; Lopez et al., 1998)
wollastonite (Sharma et al., 1990) bentonite (Bareket et
al., 1997) and peat (McKay and Porter, 1997) have also
been tried for the removal of Cd(II) from water and
wastewater. Activated carbon obtained from peanut hull
(Periasamy and Namasivayam, 1994), almond shell,
olive stones and peach stones (Ferro-Gracia et al., 1988)
and commercial activated carbons (Periasamy and
Namasivayam, 1994) have also been used for Cd(II)
removal. Marshall and Johns (1996) have used agricul-
tural by-products as adsorbents for removal of metal
ions from aqueous solution. India, the third largest
producer of coconut in the world, produces approxi-
mately 8160 million coconuts every year. Coirpith
constitutes as much as 70% of the husk, and is a light,
fluffy material generated in the separation of the fiber
from the husk. It is estimated that the production of
coirpith in India is 0.5 million t. Coirpith is disposed of
as waste and its accumulation around coir processing
centers is creating a menace (Kadirvelu, 2000). We
have reported our preliminary findings that carbonized
coirpith was effective for the treatment of dyeing indus-
try wastewater and the removal of As, Cu, Cr, Hg, Ni
and organics, including pesticides from aqueous solution
(Namasivayam and Kadirvelu, 1994, 1998). Different
methods of preparation of activated carbon from coirpith
(Namasivayam and Kadirvelu, 1997a), and the kinetics
of adsorption of Cu(II) and Hg(II) and Pb(II) from
aqueous solutions using coirpith carbon have recently
been reported (Namasivayam and Kadirvelu, 1997b,
1999).
The objective of this study was to investigate the
feasibility of using carbonized coirpith for the removal
of Cd(II) from aqueous solution by adsorption.
2. Materials and methods
2.1. Adsorbent
Waste coirpith was collected from coir processing
industries located in Pollachi, Coimbatore district, Tamil
Nadu state, India and dried in sunlight. The preparation
and characteristics of activated carbon from coirpith
have already been reported (Namasivayam and Kadir-
velu, 1997a,b). All the chemicals used were of analytical
reagent grade. All the solutions were prepared with
double-distilled water.
2.2. Batch-mode adsorption studies
The adsorbate stock solution of 1000 mgyl Cd(II)
was prepared from cadmium sulfate (CdSO4Ø8H2O) in
distilled water containing a few drops of nitric acid to
prevent hydrolysis. The stock solution was diluted as
required to obtain standard solutions containing 5–40
 K. Kadirvelu, C. Namasivayam / Advances in Environmental Research 7 (2003) 471–478
Fig. 2. Effect of carbon concentration on adsorption of Cd(II). Conditions: initial pH 5.0; agitation time 1 h.
mgyl Cd(II). Batch-mode adsorption studies were car-
ried out with 20 mg of adsorbent and 50 ml of Cd(II)
solution of desired concentration at an initial pH of 5.0
wpH range: 5.0 (initial)–6.2 (final)x in 100-ml conical
flasks, which were agitated at 160 rev.ymin for prede-
termined time intervals at room temperature (30 8C) on
a mechanical shaker. At the end of the agitation time
the suspensions were centrifuged at 8600=g. Aliquots
of the supernatant were withdrawn and Cd(II) was
spectrophotometrically estimated (Hitachi U 3210,
Tokyo) using pyronine G at a wavelength of 540 nm
(Prasad Rao and Ramakrishna, 1982). The sensitivity
of this method is such that the concentration of Cd(II)
can be determined to 0.3 mgyl. Adsorption isotherm
studies were carried out with eight different initial
concentrations of Cd(II) from 5 to 40 mgyl while
maintaining the adsorbent dosage at 20 mgy50 ml. The
effect of adsorbent dosage on percent removal was
studied using Cd(II) concentrations of 20 and 40 mgyl.
Langmuir and Freundlich models were applied to the
adsorption isotherm and different constants were gen-
erated. The effect of pH on Cd(II) removal was studied
using a 20-mg carbon dose and Cd(II) concentrations
of 20 and 40 mgyl. Control experiments were also
carried out.
2.3. Desorption studies
After adsorption experiments with 40 mgyl Cd(II)
and 20 mg of carbon, the cadmium-loaded carbon was
separated and gently washed with distilled water to
remove any unadsorbed Cd(II). It was then agitated
with 50 ml of hydrochloric acid of various concentra-
tions (0.025–0.15 M) and the amount of desorbed
cadmium was estimated.
All the experiments were carried out in duplicate and
the mean values are presented. The maximum deviation
was 2.0% (standard deviation was "2%).
473
3. Results and discussion
3.1. Influence of agitation time and initial Cd(II)
concentration
Fig. 1 shows the effect of agitation time and Cd(II)
concentration on removal. Equilibrium adsorption was
established within 40 min for 10 mgyl Cd(II), 50 min
for 20 mgyl Cd(II) and 60 min for 30 and 40 mgyl
Cd(II). It is very clear from the results that the agitation
time required for maximum uptake of metal ions by
carbon was dependent on the initial Cd(II) concentra-
tion. This result is interesting because equilibrium time
is one of the parameters for economical wastewater
treatment plant applications. According to these results,
the agitation time was fixed at 2 h for the rest of the
batch experiments to make sure that equilibrium was
reached. It also shows that increases in metal ion
concentration increased the amount of metal ion uptake
per unit weight of carbon (mgyg).
3.2. Adsorption kinetics
The kinetic study for the adsorption of Cd(II) was
conducted at optimum pH (5.0) where only adsorption
takes place. The adsorption of Cd(II) was complete in
1 h for the concentrations 10–40 mgyl. The adsorption
rate constants (Kad ) were calculated on the data in Fig.
1 using Lagergren’s equation (Kadirvelu, 2000):
log10Žqeyq.slog10qeyŽKady2.303.yt (1)
where, q is the amount of Cd(II) adsorbed in mgyg at
time t, qe is the amount of Cd(II) adsorbed (mgyg) at
equilibrium time and Kad is the rate constant of adsorp-
tion (1ymin). Linear plots of log10 (qeyq) vs. t show
the applicability of Eq. (1) for coirpith carbon.
The Kad values calculated from the slope of the linear
plots were found to be 11.12, 7.9, 4.58 and
474 K. Kadirvelu, C. Namasivayam / Advances in Environmental Research 7 (2003) 471–478

3.3. Effect of carbon dosage

Fig. 2 shows the removal of Cd(II) as a function of

carbon dosage. Increasing carbon dosage increased the
percentage removal of Cd(II). For quantitative removal
of Cd(II) from a 50-ml aliquot of 20 and 40 mgyl
Cd(II), a minimum dose of 20 and 70 mg, respectively,
was required.

3.4. Adsorption isotherms

Fig. 3 shows the adsorption isotherm for Cd(II) on

coirpith carbon. The Langmuir isotherm was applied for
equilibrium adsorption (Langmuir, 1918):
Ceyqes1yQ0bqŽCeyQ0. (2)
where Ce is the equilibrium concentration (mgyl), qe is
the amount adsorbed at equilibrium (mgyg), and Q0
and b are Langmuir constants related to the adsorption
capacity and energy of adsorption, respectively. The
linear plots of Ce yqe vs. Ce show that adsorption follows
the Langmuir isotherm model (Fig. 4). The correlation
coefficient was 0.9996. Q0 and b were determined from
the slope and intercept of the plot and were found to

Fig. 3. Adsorption isotherm of Cd (II).

2.96=10y2 1ymin for initial concentrations of 10, 20,

30 and 40 mgyl, respectively. The Kad values were
comparable with recently reported values for agricultur-
al-based activated carbon: 5.36, 6.03 and 4.48 for initial
concentrations of 10, 15 and 20 mgyl, respectively
(Periasamy and Namasivayam, 1994).
In order to develop design models for wastewater
treatment systems, the mechanism of adsorption should
be known, described by:

1. Mass transfer across the boundary layer surrounding

the adsorbing particle;
2. Mass transfer within the internal surface of the
particle; and
3. Adsorption at the site.

The constant for intraparticle diffusion Kp was cal-

culated from the slope of the linear portion of the plots.
The constants (Kp) were found to be 20.0, 26.8, 32.2 Fig. 4. Langmuir plot for Cd(II) adsorption. Conditions: initial
and 36.6=10y1 mgyg min1y2 for initial Cd(II) concen- pH 5.0; carbon concentration 20 mgy50 ml; Cd(II) concentra-
trations of 10, 20, 30 and 40 mgyl, respectively. tion 10–40 mgyl.
 K. Kadirvelu, C. Namasivayam / Advances in Environmental Research 7 (2003) 471–478 475

Table 1
Comparison of adsorption capacity for Cd(II) with other adsorbents

Adsorbent Q0 Reference
(mgyg)
Fly ash 198.2 Lopez et al., 1998
Fly ash washed with water 195.2 Lopez et al., 1998
Fly ash washed with acid 180.4 Lopez et al., 1998
Carbonized coirpith 93.2 This work
Peanut hull carbon 89.4 Periasamy and Namasivayam, 1994
Red mud washed with water 66.8 Lopez et al., 1998
Red mud acid-treated at 600 8C 66.8 Lopez et al., 1998
Red mud acid-treated 46.9 Lopez et al., 1998
Fe(III)yCr(III) hydroxide 40.5 Namasivayam and Ranganathan, 1995
Modified silica gel 33.72 Filho et al., 1995
Granular activated carbon 11.1 Periasamy and Namasivayam, 1994
Bituminous coal 6.47 Singh and Rawat, 1994
Olive stone carbon 5.91 Ferro-Gracia et al., 1988
Moss 46.6 Low and Lee, 1991
Peach stone carbon 3.27 Ferro-Gracia et al., 1988
Goethite 3.08 Johonson, 1990
Almond-shell carbon 2.7 Ferro-Gracia et al., 1988
Peat 21.13 McKay and Porter, 1997
Furnace sludge 7.39 Degodo et al., 1998
Oxidized anthracite 28.1 Petrov et al., 1992

be 93.4 mgyg and 1.73 lymg, respectively. Values of
the adsorption capacity of other adsorbents from the
literature are given in Table 1 for comparison.
The essential characteristics of the Langmuir isotherm
can be expressed in terms of a dimensionless constant
separation factor or equilibrium parameter, RL , which is
defined as:
RLs1yŽ1qbC0.
where b is the Langmuir constant and C0 is the initial
concentration of Cd(II). The RL value indicates the
shape of the isotherm as follows:
RL value Type of isotherm
RL)1 Unfavorable
RLs1 Linear
0-RL-1 Favorable
RLs0 Irreversible
According to McKay et al. (1982), RL values between
0 and 1 indicate favorable adsorption. The RL values
were found to be between 0.0142 and 0.0545 for
concentrations of 10–40 mgyl Cd(II).
The Freundlich isotherm is represented by the equa-
tion (Freundlich, 1906):
qesKfCe1yn
where Ce is the equilibrium concentration (mgyl), qe is
the amount adsorbed (mgyg) and Kf and n are constants
incorporating all factors affecting the adsorption process,
such as adsorption capacity and intensity, respectively.
Kf and n were calculated from the slope of the Freun-
dlich plots. The constants were found to be Kfs27.51
and 33.75 and ns2.08 and 3.19 for 20 and 40 mgyl
Cd(II) concentrations, respectively. Accordingly to
Kadirvelu and Namasivayam (2000), it has been shown
that n values between 1 and 10 represent beneficial
(3) adsorption.
3.5. Effect of pH
Fig. 5 shows the effect of pH on the removal of
Cd(II) by coirpith carbon and precipitation. The Cd(II)
removal by coirpith carbon increased with increasing
pH and attained values of 98 and 85% for 20 and 40
mgyl of Cd(II), respectively, at an initial pH of 4.0. It
is evident that the carbon is effective for the maximum
removal of Cd(II) over the pH range 5–10. The increase
in metal ion removal as pH increases can be explained
on the basis of a decrease in Hq on the surface sites
and by a decrease in positive surface charge, which
results in less repulsion of adsorbing metal ions.
The efficiency of Cd(II) removal is affected by the
initial metal ion concentration, with decreasing removal
percentages as concentration increases from 20 to 40
(4) mgyl at constant pH. This effect can be explained as
follows: At low metal ionycarbon ratios, metal ion
adsorption involves the higher energy sites. As the metal
ionycarbon ratio increases, the higher energy sites are
476 K. Kadirvelu, C. Namasivayam / Advances in Environmental Research 7 (2003) 471–478
Fig. 5. Effect of pH on Cd(II) removal by adsorption and pre-
cipitation. Conditions: carbon concentration 20 mgy50 ml; agi-
tation time 1 h.
saturated and adsorption begins on lower energy sites,
resulting in a decrease in the adsorption efficiency.
The conventional method for the removal of heavy
metals is by precipitation as hydroxides of sulfides. This
method has the limitation that metal ions cannot be
completely removed from solution due to the value of
the solubility product constant of metal hydroxides or
sulfides. In the absence of carbon, precipitation of metal
hydroxide starts at pH 8.5. In the presence of carbon,
there is competition between carbon adsorption and
precipitation as metal hydroxide. The maximum adsorp-
tion of Cd(II) was observed below the pH of hydroxide
precipitation. An increase in metal ion uptake with an
increase in pH was also noted by other researchers,
such as by Corapcioglu and Huang (1987) for adsorp-
tion of heavy metals onto hydrous activated carbon,
Fig. 6. Effect of HCl concentration on Cd(II) desorption.
Seco et al. (1999) for cadmium and copper removal by
granular activated carbon, Kumar and Dara (1980) for
the uptake of copper, lead and cadmium by acacia bark,
and by Periasamy and Namasivayam (1994) for cad-
mium removal by peanut and commercial activated
carbons. The mechanism of adsorption can also be
explained based on ion exchange models. On the acti-
vated carbon surface (S), a carbon–oxygen complex
binds metal ions by displacing protons from the carbon
surface as follows:
2S–COHqMqlS–(CO)2Mqq2Hq (5)
2q 2q
S–COH 2
q
qM lS–COM q2H q
(6)
The above mechanism is suggested to occur in the
present case because, at increasing initial metal-ion
concentrations, the final pH of the solution decreases.
This suggests that greater adsorption of Cd(II) releases
more Hq from the activated carbon surface (Namasi-
vayam and Kadirvelu, 1997b).
3.6. Desorption studies
Desorption studies were carried out to further eluci-
date the mechanism of adsorption of Cd(II) (Fig. 6).
Attempts were made to desorb Cd(II) from the carbon
sources using different concentrations of HCl. The
maximum percentage recovery of Cd(II) was 100%
with 0.075 M HCl solution. This indicates that ion
exchange is involved in the adsorption process.
4. Conclusion
Coirpith carbon is an effective adsorbent for the
removal of Cd(II) from aqueous solution. The faster
adsorption kinetic data (Kad and Kp) may be useful for
environmental technologists in designing Cd(II)-con-
taining wastewater plants. The adsorption is metal ion
 K. Kadirvelu, C. Namasivayam / Advances in Environmental Research 7 (2003) 471–478
concentration- and pH-dependent. The adsorption capac-
ity (Q0) was 93.4 mg Cd(II)yg at initial pH 5.0 for the
particle size 250–500 mm. The adsorption followed
both the Langmuir and Freundlich isotherm models.
Adsorption of Cd(II) appears to takes place by an ion
exchange mechanism. Quantitative recovery of Cd(II)
is possible from Cd(II)-loaded carbon. It would be
useful for the economic treatment of wastewater con-
taining Cd(II) to use an agricultural by-product such as
coirpith as an adsorbent.
Acknowledgments
Dr. K. Kadirvelu is grateful to the Council of Scien-
tific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Government of
India, for the award of Senior Research Fellowship.
Author K.K would also like to express sincere thanks
to Prof Ilango (Vice-Chancellor) and Prof V. Gopal
(Head of Department of Environmental Sciences) Bhar-
athair University, Coimbatore, India for their valuable
help and encouragement.
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