Removal of chromium from tannery industry effluents with (activated carbon and fly ash) adsorbents.

Adsorption is a strong choice for removal operations as it is very simple to recover a high quality product from waste sludge. The efficiency of adsorbents like fly ash and activated carbon are tested based on their performance to remove chrome at various pH values, bed heights, and concentration of adsorbents. The removal efficiency was also tested for wastewater characteristics in a pilot plant in addition to the use of adsorbents. The concentration of chromium was determined by atomic absorption spectrophotometer (Perkin Elmer). The results depicted that the efficiency of removal increased with increasing pH and bed height and decreased with increasing concentration. The removal efficiency with fly ash as an adsorbent was comparatively better than activatedcarbon. Thus, adsorbents can be used for chromium removal from tannery industry effluent.