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Utilization of lignite coal as heavy metal adsorbent in chemistry

laboratory wastewater
To cite this article: Suliestyah et al 2021 IOP Conf. Ser.: Earth Environ. Sci. 802 012045

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International Conference on Research Collaboration of Environmental Science IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Earth and Environmental Science 802 (2021) 012045 doi:10.1088/1755-1315/802/1/012045

Utilization of lignite coal as heavy metal adsorbent in

chemistry laboratory wastewater

Suliestyah1*, A D Astuti2, I P Sari3

1
Department of Mining Engineering, Trisakti University, Jakarta Indonesia
2
Department of Environmental Engineering, Trisakti University, Jakarta Indonesia
3
Department of Industrial Engineering, Trisakti University, Jakarta Indonesia

suliestyah@trisakti.ac.id

Abstract. Wastewater from Chemistry Laboratory contains heavy metals which need treatment
before being discharged into the environment. This study investigates the treatment of chemistry
laboratory wastewater using activated carbon. The activated carbon was made from lignite coal
with ZnCl2 activation and carbonization was carried out at a temperature of 500 oC for 2 hours.
The highest iodine number is 1529.20 mg/g on activated carbon with a grain size of 80 mesh of
coal and a composition of 40% ZnCl2-60% coal. Adsorption of Fe, Cr and Pb metals using
activated carbon was carried out at 2 variations of initial concentrations. At an initial
concentration of 75.8 ppm Fe, metal adsorption is 84%, while at an initial concentration of 37.9
ppm it is 87%. The adsorption of Cr metal is 44% at an initial concentration of 1.37 ppm, and it
is 79% at an initial concentration of 0.69 ppm. The adsorption of Pb metal is 91% at an initial
concentration of 11.2 ppm, and it is 91% at an initial concentration of 5.6 ppm. The results
showed that activated carbon from lignite coal could adsorb Fe, Cr and Pb metals, and the initial
concentration influenced the effectiveness of metal adsorption.

1. Introduction
Indonesian coal reserve is mostly categorized as low-rank coal. This situation has placed Indonesia
under a certain level of loss on the processing activity because the coal in this category contains high
water content with low calorific value. An alternative method to utilize low-rank coal, such as activated
carbon production is required. The abundant coal reserves, low processing cost, and the high-level
carbon content in the coal make it ideal as a material to produce activated carbon [1]. Naturally reactive
coal is relatively easy to shape pores [2].
Activated carbon, a solid compound with high carbon content, fitted with high volume pores, reactive
surface, and vast contact area, is highly effective as an adsorbent material [3, 4]. The adsorption process
can be utilized on various objectives such as to adsorb unwanted color, to adsorb organic pollutant and
heavy metal compounds on liquid wastes, and to adsorb harmful gasses on fuel incinerator exhausts.
Activated carbon is vastly implemented as an adsorbent on gas or liquid phases because of its simple
utilization, abundant availability, regeneration process, and adsorption capacity [5]. Activated carbon
has been synthesized from numbers of sources such as biomasses materials that include palm shell [6],
tamarind seed [7], coconut shell [8], bamboo waste [9], coffee bagasse [10], and low-rank coal such as
sub-bituminous [11] and lignite [12,13].

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International Conference on Research Collaboration of Environmental Science IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Earth and Environmental Science 802 (2021) 012045 doi:10.1088/1755-1315/802/1/012045

Researches on activated carbon production from coal, both low-rank and middle-rank coals, has been
frequently conducted. Suliestyah, et al. (2020) produced activated carbon from sub-bituminous coal with
ZnCl2 as an activator to adsorb Fe and Mn metal ions from acid mine drainage. The produced activated
carbon has a BET surface area of 667 m2/g and an iodine number of 1373 mg/g [14]. G. Song, et al.
(2020) conducted activated carbon synthesis on high-rank coal, with anthracite as waste gas adsorbent
[15]. Activated carbon produced with coals from Yulin, China has BET area of 1212.5 mg/g were made
by Niu et al. as blue methylene adsorbent in a solution [16].
In this research, an adsorption test was conducted on lignite coal-based activated carbon on Fe, Cr,
and Pb metals on chemical laboratory wastewater. Each metal ion content before and after the adsorption
process was measured to acknowledge the adsorption ability of the activated carbon. After that, an
analysis of the coal grain effect and activation agent measurements were implemented to gauge the
adsorption ability of lignite coal-based activated carbon.

2. Methodology

2.1. Tools and materials preparations

The coal used in this research was obtained from PT. Arutmin South Borneo. ZnCl2 chemical compound
is used as an activator and other materials such as iodine 0,1 N solution, natrium tio sulphate 0.1 N
solution, HCl 0.5N, HCl 10 % kalium iodide 10 %, kalium dichromate, starch indicator, aquadest and
nitrogen gas. Meanwhile, we utilized liquid waste from Chemical Laboratory for the activated carbon
product application test as a metal adsorbent in liquid waste.
Tools utilized to produce activated carbon is an oven, carbonization reactor, jar test, and AAS
instrument to analyze metal content.

2.2. Coal material characterization

Coal characterization was conducted through proximate analysis and calorific value measurement,
which were applied to determine the coal quality utilized as material in this research. Proximate analysis
conducted includes water content measurement (ASTM: D3173-79), ash content measurement (ASTM:
D3174-79), flying materials content measurement (ASTM: D3175-79) and fixed carbon measurement.
Meanwhile, calorivic value measurement was conducted based on ASTM: D2015-79 standard.

2.3. Activated carbon production

Some ZnCl2 was dissolved in aquadest and mixed with coal according to the intended weight and grain
size. After that, the mixture was stirred for 30 minutes and heated at 80oC for 3 hours before it was dried
and reach a stable weight. Carbonization was conducted at 500oC for 1 hour by flowing nitrogen gas. In
this research, we prepared 4 types of activated carbon, namely; activated carbon made of carbon with
40 mesh of grain size, composed of 30% ZnCl2 and 70% coal (AC-43); activated carbon made of coal
with 40 mesh grain size, composed of 40% ZnCl2 and 60% coal (AC-44), activated carbon made of coal
with 80 mesh of grain size, composed of 30% ZnCl2 and 70% coal (AC-83), and activated carbon made
of coal with 80 mesh of grain size, composed of 40% ZnCl2 and 60% coal (AC-84).

2.4. Iodine number analysis (SII 0258 - 89)

Activated carbon was mixed with HCl 5% and heated until it was boiled for 30 seconds and set aside a
room temperature. After that, we added 0.1 N iodine solution before the solution was stirred and filtered.
Filtrate titration with 0.1 N tio sulphate natrium solution with starch solution as indicator.

2.5. Activated carbon adsorption analysis

Activated carbon adsorption was analyzed by using wastewater obtained from Chemical Laboratory.
This wastewater contains heavy metal ions such as Fe, Cr and Pb. The metal ion content in the waste
was measured by using AAS. Wastewater was diluted to obtain variations of waste early concentration.
Activated carbon and wastewater were added into an erlenmeyer flask and inserted in a shaker with 150

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International Conference on Research Collaboration of Environmental Science IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Earth and Environmental Science 802 (2021) 012045 doi:10.1088/1755-1315/802/1/012045

rpm of speed for 48 hours of contact time. After that, centrifugation and measurement of filtrate metal
were conducted.

3. Results and discussion

3.1. Coal material quality analysis

Proximate analysis and calorivic value determination were conducted on coal obtained from PT.
Arutmin South Borneo to acknowledge the quality and rank of the coal. The analysis result of coal used
as material can be seen in the following table 1:
Table 1. Proximate and calorivic value analyses of coal material.
Moisture Ash Volatile Matter Fixed Calorivic
No Material Content Content Content Carbon Value
(% adb) (% adb) (% adb) (% adb) (Kkal/Kg)
1 Coal 17,15 % 3,85 % 42,07 % 36,93 4904

Analysis result of coal material quality on table 1 shows that the utilized coal is categorized as low-
rank lignite coal. The amount of reserve of this type of coal is highly abundant in Indonesia. That is why
the utilization of this type of coal as activated carbon is highly promising and can be practiced over a
long period of time.

3.2. Coal-based activated carbon iodine number analysis

Iodine number is the amount of iodine that can be adsorbed for each gram of activated carbon (on a level
of mg/g). Based on that, the iodine number can be used to describe the adsorption power of activated
carbon. The iodine number of every coal-based activated carbon and iodine number of comparing
activated carbon (Ajax Charcoal) can be seen in Table 2. Iodine number analysis results show that there
is an increase of iodine number on similar coal grain size as the amount of activation agent increased.
This happens because ZnCl2, as one of the activation agents, has an acidic nature that influence activated
carbon porosity production. The addition of ZnCl2 will prevent tar production, which causes
decomposition where non-carbonic compounds will be converted into a volatile compound that would
diffuse through coal particles that leads to pore production [17]. Other search conducted by Saka also
produces a similar outcome, where the addition of ZnCl2 activation agent led to the increase of surface
area and activated carbon iodine number. On the utilization of 30% activation agent, the obtained BET
surface area is at 892 m2/g and iodine number of 838 mg/g. Meanwhile, on the utilization of 40% ZnCl2
active agent, there is an increase of BET surface area into 1082 m2/g and iodine 969 mg/g [18].
Table 2. Activated carbon iodine number.
Activated
No. Information Iodine Number
carbon
1 AC-43 40 mesh coal, 30% ZnCl2 1247.35 mg/g
2 AC-44 40 mesh coal, 40% ZnCl2 1302.10 mg/g
3 AC-83 80 mesh coal, 30% ZnCl2 1433.32 mg/g
4 AC-84 80 mesh coal, 40% ZnCl2 1529.20 mg/g
5 AC-X Comparing Active Charcoal 976.58 mg/g

3.3. Coal-based activated carbon adsorption analysis

Synthesized Activated carbon adsorption analysis was conducted by using wastewater obtained from
Chemical Laboratory. Wastewater was tested using AAS to measure Fe, Cr and Pb metal ion

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International Conference on Research Collaboration of Environmental Science IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Earth and Environmental Science 802 (2021) 012045 doi:10.1088/1755-1315/802/1/012045

concentration, and we obtained the result respectively at 75.8 ppm, 1.37 ppm, and 11.19 ppm. After that,
wastewater dilution was implemented to obtain concentration variation. Each activated carbon
adsorption was analyzed by using 2 early concentration variations. Fe metal adsorption result can be
seen in figure 1. The figure shows that coal with high ZnCl2 content possesses higher adsorption power
on Fe metal. This happens because high ZnCl2 content will possess a higher activated carbon iodine
number, resulting in a larger adsorption site. However, on 80 mesh grain size with 40% of ZnCl2, the
activated carbon adsorption decreases. Based on this picture, we can see that the early concentration of
metal ion does not influence activated carbon adsorption. Commercial activated carbon used as a
comparison in this research has a higher adsorption value than the synthesized activated carbon.
However, the difference is insignificant and it can be said that the synthesized activated carbon is quite
promising as Fe metal adsorbent on wastewater.

Figure 1. Fe metal adsorption on various activated carbon.

Activated carbon adsorption value on Cr metal can be seen in figure 2. This figure shows that Cr
metal ion adsorption parallelly increases with the grain size and percentage of ZnCl2 weight. This result
is similar to iodine number value of each activated carbon utilized in this research. The higher the iodine
number, the higher the activated carbon adsorption on Cr metal. AC-83 possesses a higher adsorption
level than AC-43, as well as AC-44 and AC-84. This shows that the smaller the activated carbon grain
size, the small the adsorption on the metal ion. This happens because an increase of activated carbon
surface area increases as the particle size goes smaller [19].
In figure 2, we can see that the low level of Cr metal ion early concentration of shows higher
adsorption. This because the concentration of low metal ion is facilitated with an adequate adsorption
site. Meanwhile, when the early concentration of metal ion is high, the number of available adsorption
sites is smaller than the number of metal ions, leading to lower adsorption capacity [20].

Figure 2. Cr metal adsorption on Each Activated carbon.

Activated carbon adsorption analysis on Pb metal shows that the higher the ZnCl2 weight, the higher
the adsorbed metal would be. However, the adsorption level experiences a decrease on activated carbon
with 80 mesh size.

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International Conference on Research Collaboration of Environmental Science IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Earth and Environmental Science 802 (2021) 012045 doi:10.1088/1755-1315/802/1/012045

Figure 3. Pb metal adsorption on each activated carbon.

4. Conclusion
Activated carbon made of low-rank lignite coal by using ZnCl2 activator produces activated carbon with
great surface area, marked by high iodine number. The iodine number analysis result shows that coal
grain size and ZnCl2 weight influence surface area level and adsorption capacity. The maximum iodine
number is produced on 80 mesh coal-based activated carbon with 40% of activator weight ZnCl2, with
an iodine number of 1529.20 mg/g. Adsorption result on Fe and Cr also shows similar tendencies, where
higher iodine number leads to higher Fe and Cr metals adsorption. However, on Pb metal ion we can
see that the activated carbon of 40 mesh of coal grain size produces a higher adsorption level than 80
mesh. Let's compare the adsorption capacity of lignite coal-based activated carbon and the commercial
Ajax Charcoal activated carbon. We acknowledge that both of these activated carbons possess an almost
similar adsorption capacity. Based on that, we can conclude that low-rank lignite coal is ideal for
activated carbon material with a high level of adsorption capacity.

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