Mercury removal from gold mining wastewater using palm oil fuel ash (POFA)
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.15243/jdmlm.2022.093.3525Keywords:
adsorption, agricultural waste, gold mining wastewater, mercury removal, palm oil fuel ash (POFA)Abstract
Mercury is a harmful element that commonly accumulates in the environment through anthropogenic activities such as gold mining. This study aimed to examine the use of palm oil fuel ash (POFA) as an agricultural waste to remove mercury in gold mining wastewater. The technology applied in this study was adsorption and precipitation. POFA was first washed until neutral then mixed with gold mining effluent with time variation of 30, 60, 90 minutes. Next, precipitate it for 30 minutes. The adsorbent dose used in this study was 250 mg with 1 litre effluent. The maximum adsorption efficiency observed in this study was 96.77%. The utilization of POFA as an adsorbent reduced mercury levels in wastewater below the allowed released mercury level to the environment (0.0025 mg Hg/L). Results indicate that reducing mercury from gold mining wastewater by utilizing POFA was simple, effective, and low-cost to be implemented.
References
Alijani, H., Beyki, M.H. and Mirzababaei, S.N. 2015. Utilization of synthesized NaA and ZSM-5 nano zeolites for mercury (II) removal : kinetic, thermodynamic and isotherm study. Desalination and Water Treatment 55(7):1864-1875. doi:10.1080/19443994.2014.930799.
Attari, M., Bukhari, S., Kazemian, H. and Rohani, S. 2017. A low-cost adsorbent from coal fly ash for mercury removal from industrial wastewater. Journal of Environmental Chemical Engineering 5(1):391-399, doi:10.1016/j.jece.2016.12.014.
Bienz, S., Bigler, L., Fox, T. and Meier, H. 2021. Spectroscopic Methods in Organic Chemistry (Foundations series). Thieme Chemistry; 3. edition (July 7, 2021), 512 pages, ISBN-13:‎ 978-3132434080
Bjørklund, G., Dadar, M., Mutter, J. and Aaseth, J. 2017. The toxicology of mercury: Current research and emerging trends. Environmental Research 159(August):545-554. doi:10.1016/j.envres.2017.08.051.
Chandara, C., Azizli, K.A.M., Ahmad, Z.A., Hashim, S.F.S. and Sakai, E. 2011. Analysis of mineralogical components of palm oil fuel ash with or without unburned carbon. Advanced Materials Research 173:7-11, doi:10.4028/www.scientific.net/AMR.173.7.
Gusain, R., Kumar, N. and Sinha, S. 2020. Recent advances in carbon nanomaterial-based adsorbents for water purification. Coordination Chemistry Reviews 405:213111, doi:10.1016/j.ccr.2019.213111.
Harwood, L.M. and Claridge, T.D.W. 1996. Introduction of Organic Spectroscopy. Oxford Science Publications.
Khoramzadeh, E., Nasernejad, B. and Halladj, R. 2013. Mercury biosorption from aqueous solutions by sugarcane bagasse. Journal of the Taiwan Institute of Chemical Engineers 44(2):265-268, doi:10.1016/j.jtice.2012.09.004.
Kudo, A., Fujikawa, Y., Miyahara, S., Zheng, J., Takigami, H., Sugahara, M. and Muramatsu, T. 1998. Lessons from Minamata mercury pollution, Japan-after a continuous 22 years of observation. Water Science and Technology 38(7 pt 6):187-193, doi:10.1016/S0273-1223(98)00632-5.
Marrugo-Negrete, J., Enamorado-Montes, G., Durango-Hernández, J., Pinedo-Hernández, J. and DÃez, S. 2017. Removal of mercury from gold mine effluents using Limnocharis flava in constructed wetlands. Chemosphere 167:188-192, doi:10.1016/j.chemosphere.2016.09.130.
Meena, A.K., Kadirvelu, K., Mishra, G.K., Rajagopal, C. and Nagar, P.N. 2008. Adsorptive removal of heavy metals from aqueous solution by treated sawdust (Acacia arabica). Journal of Hazardous Materials 150:604-611, doi:10.1016/j.jhazmat.2007.05.030.
Minister of Environment of the Republic of Indonesia. 2004. Decree of the Minister of the Environment Concerning Wastewater Quality Standards for Gold or Coal Mining Business and/or Activities, Ministry of Environment and Forestry Decree No. 202 of 2004.
Rahmi, Fathurrahmi, Lelifajri, and Wati, F.P. 2019. Preparation of magnetic chitosan using local iron sand for mercury removal. Heliyon 5(May):e01731, doi:10.1016/j.heliyon.2019.e01731.
Riduan, A., Rainiyati, R., Heraningsih, S.F. and Rainiyati, R. 2020. Palm oil fuel ash [POFA]: innovative potential applications as heavy metal removal materials in gold mining wastewater. IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science 497(1), doi:10.1088/1755-1315/497/1/012041.
Robles-Jimarez, H.R., Sanjuan-Navarro, L., Jornet-MartÃnez, N., Primaz, C.T., Teruel-Juanes, R., Molins-Legua, C., Ribes-Greus, A. and CampÃns-Falcó, P. 2022. New silica-based adsorbent material from rice straw and its in-flow application to nitrate reduction in waters: process sustainability and scale-up possibilities. Science of the Total Environment 805, doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.150317.
Samad, K.A., Salleh, I.S.M., Zahari, M.A.K.M. and Yussof, H.W. 2019. Batch study on the removal of mercury (II) ion from industrial wastewater using activated palm oil fuel ash. Materials Today: Proceedings 17:1126-1132. doi:10.1016/j.matpr.2019.06.536.
Zainudin, N., Lee, K., Kamaruddin, A., Bhatia, S. and Mohamed, A. 2015. Study of adsorbent prepared from oil palm ash (OPA) for flue gas desulfurization. Separation and Purification Technology 45(1):50-60.
Downloads
Submitted
Accepted
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Submission of a manuscript implies: that the work described has not been published before (except in the form of an abstract or as part of a published lecture, or thesis) that it is not under consideration for publication elsewhere; that if and when the manuscript is accepted for publication, the authors agree to automatic transfer of the copyright to the publisher. 
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
Scientific Journal by Eko Handayanto is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Based on a work at https://ub.ac.id.
Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at https://ircmedmind.ub.ac.id/.
This work is licensed under a 