Abstract
Melon husks obtained from a local market were washed with distilled water to remove impurities, oven-dried at 1050C, and carbonized in a furnace at 5500C. H2SO4 and NaOH were used to modify the carbonized melon husk to catalyze the adsorption rate. The initial and final concentrations of Fe2+ and Pb2+ in the wastewater were determined with the Flame atomic adsorption spectrometry technique. The industrial wastewater was treated with the adsorbent at various grams, reaction time, and a constant speed of 0.2-1.0 g, 10-100 min, and 150 rpm, respectively. The obtained data were fitted into isotherm models. The adsorption isotherm, Langmuir, and Freundlich R2” values were between 0.888 and 1.000. The adsorption of both metals suits pseudo second-order kinetics with the coefficient of determination values ranges between 0.203 to 0.923. This study established that melon husk-activated carbon adsorbent is more efficient in the adsorption of Pb2+ than Fe2+ in industrial wastewater. Melon husk activated carbon modified with H2SO4 is, therefore, recommended for the removal of lead in electroplating industrial wastewater.