Green Functionalization of Carbon Nanofibers for Heavy Metal Removal

Heavy metal is one of the main contaminants in industrial wastewater. This project was conducted to investigate the ability to greenly functionalized Carbon Nanofibers (CNFs) by using distilled water instead of organic acid and the ability of the greenly functionalized CNFs to adsorb heavy metal from aqueous solution. Greenly functionalizing the CNFs by using distilled water instead of the common acidic treatments method will not only reduce the effect of chemicals waste into the environment, but also can reduce the cost of production. The functionalization process is done by controlling 3 parameters, which are; contact time, temperature and stirring frequency. The functionalized CNFs will then be tested for their adsorption ability to adsorb heavy metals from aqueous solutions. This research will also involve the characterization of the CNFs by using Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) and the concentration of the heavy metal in the aqueous solution is will be analyzed using Atomic Adsorption Spectrometry (AAS).