Characteristic and Adsorption Capacity of Activated Carbon and Bentonite to Heavy Metal

Abstract

Laboratory waste can take the form of organic and inorganic materials if it
accumulates, it can be harm the surrounding environment such as soil, water and plants.
Some heavy metals are discharged without prior processing so it is feared that they can
cause environmental pollution. The purpose of this research was to identify heavy metals
from the laboratory activities waste and reduce that heavy metals using activated carbon
and bentonite. The adsorption method using adsorbents such as activated carbon and
bentonite is widely used to reduce metal contamination in waste and for analysis of heavy
metal content in this research we used an atomic absorption spectrophotometer. The
results of the analysis show the presence of several heavy metals such as Pb, Cu, Ag, Co, Cd,
Cr and Hg. Identified laboratory waste results are quite high at 35 g/L for Cu, 1200 ppm for
Pb metal and 220 ppm Ag. Adsorption using carbon and bentonite showed a reduction of
Cu in the laboratory waste of 90.8 and 83.9% respectively with 2gram adsorbents. This
shows that carbon and bentonite can be used as adsorbents to reduce metals in laboratory
waste.