Investigating the use of date seed for removal of boron from seawater

Boron has been classified as a drinking water pollutant in many countries. It is harmful to many plants, exceptionally sensible plants, and human health. Therefore, boron level needs to be decreased to 0.3 mg/L for drinking water and within 0.5 mg/L to 1 mg/L for irrigation water. In...

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Main Authors: Ahmed, Moussa Mohamed, Nik Abdul Ghani, Nik Rashida, Jami, Mohammed Saedi, Mirghani, Mohamed Elwathig Saeed, Salleh, Md. Noor
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: IIUM Press 2020
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Online Access:http://irep.iium.edu.my/87087/1/87087_Investigating%20the%20use%20of%20date%20seed.pdf
http://irep.iium.edu.my/87087/
https://journals.iium.edu.my/bnrej/index.php/bnrej/article/view/51
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Summary:Boron has been classified as a drinking water pollutant in many countries. It is harmful to many plants, exceptionally sensible plants, and human health. Therefore, boron level needs to be decreased to 0.3 mg/L for drinking water and within 0.5 mg/L to 1 mg/L for irrigation water. In this study, various operational parameters namely pH, contact time and liquid/solid ratio were investigated to determine the potential of using date seed (or date pit or date stone) to remove boron from seawater. This study's main objective was to determine boron adsorption capacities of date seeds prepared by various methods (i.e., powdered, activated, acid-treated and defatted seed) by batch adsorption process using boron contaminated synthetic seawater. The process parameters of the selected biosorbent among the four date seed preparations methods were optimized. The surface characteristics were analyzed by using Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) and Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM). The results showed that acid-treated date seed was the best biosorbent in terms of removing 89.18% boron from aqueous solution at neutral pH, liquid to solid ratio of 5 within 2 hours of reaction time at room temperature (25°C±2°C).