Abstract

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Effluents from the primary discharge points of two textile industries were subjected to analysis and subsequent purification utilizing particulate substrates derived from palm kernel shells. The shells underwent cleaning, milling, and sieving to produce four distinct particle size fractions. Five-gram aliquots of raw, carbonized, and chemically activated (using FeCl3, CaCl2, and a 2:1 ZnCl2:FeCl3 mixture) shell particles were employed to filter effluent samples within a glass wool column (3g). Results indicated that smaller particle sizes exhibited superior efficacy in the removal of both particulate matter and colour. While carbon activated with FeCl3 demonstrated the shortest filtration time, CaCl2-activated carbon proved most effective in pH adjustment towards neutral standards. Conversely, carbon activated with a ZnCl2 and FeCl3 combination (2:1 ratio) yielded the most pronounced reduction in absorbance

Keywords: Particle size, Carbonization, Furnace, Crucible, Adsorption, Spectrometry.