A research team from IIT-BHU has developed an eco-friendly and inexpensive adsorbent made entirely from rice husk which, they claim, can be used to remove heavy metal toxic ions from wastewater. The team, from the School of Biochemical Engineering from the University, claims that the adsorbent can be used to separate ions like hexavalent chromium from wastewater. They claim that this can be used to help and clean the Ganga river.
This work has been published in the “Journal of Environmental Chemical Engineering”.
The team, headed by Dr Vishal Mishra, synthesised the adsorbent and showed it to be effective in the adsorption and reduction of hexavalent chromium from wastewater. Doctoral fellows Veer Singh and Jyoti Singh were also part of the team.
Dr Mishra said in an interview that hexavalent chromium is responsible for several types of health problems in the human body like various types of cancers, kidney and liver failure. This adsorbent is effective in the removal of toxic metal ions from wastewater as compared to other conventional methods and, that too, in less time.
“In developing countries, water-borne diseases are a major problem. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), each year, 3.4 million people, mostly children, die from water-related diseases. Improving water quality can reduce global water-borne diseases. Cancer due to heavy metals is also a severe problem worldwide,” he added.
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