Manganese (Mn) removal by adsorption using Palm Oil Fuel Ash (POFA)

Several studies have been conducted on the potential of POFA as an adsorbent to
remove heavy metals such as lead and zinc. However, there is limited literature on the
removal of manganese using POF A. The main objective of this research is to use
POFA to adsorb manganese in aqueous solution. This study focuses on manganese
removal by adsorption using POF A without pre-treatment or activation and varying
the operating parameters related to adsorption process such as the amount of
adsorbent, agitation time, and initial metal concentration. The results show that POF A
is a good adsorbent for manganese removal with removal of manganese over 98%.
The optimum contact time, adsorbent dosage and initial manganese concentration is
15 minutes, 0.5g, and lOppm respectively. Characterization ofPOFA was done before
the adsorption where the BET surface area is 10.72 m2/g, the particle size is 21.125flm
and the carbon content is 52.26%. FTIR analysis showed the hydroxyl, carboy!,
alcohol, ethers and esters. The adsorption process followed the Freundlich isotherm
with R2 = 0.9668 and Pseudo Second Order with R2= 0.9999.