Fixed Bed Removal of Heavy Metal- a Review

Abstract

Removal of heavy metals from the wastewater is major area of research in environmental engineering. Adsorption is very effective method for heavy metal removal. The use of fixed bed for the heavy metal removal by adsorption is important part of the investigations carried out by the researchers. This review paper presents the research carried out for heavy metal removal in fixed bed by using various adsorbents with respect to the affecting parameters, the models used to explain the metal uptake and the adsorption efficiency. Fixed bed studies revealed that the break through time depends on the flow rates and initial metal ion concentrations. The studies carried out by various researchers also explains the  appearance of break through curves by using various models such as  Adam-Bohart, Thomas and Yoon-Nelson models. Attempts have been made to correlate the batch data to the column data by few  researchers. Fixed bed adsorption was found to be very efficient and  applicable method for heavy metal removal.