Heavy metals in drinking water is a serious health concern. Activated carbon is a commonly used adsorbent to remove heavy metals from water. Although effective, it is expensive and difficult to manufacture. Our project analyzes glucose hydrochars to determine if they could be a viable alternative for heavy metal adsorption in the future. The structure of the glucose hydrochar is dependent on its reaction time. We compared the adsorption capacity and surface area of different synthesized hydrochars to the activated carbon, Picachem HP-120. The results showed that activated carbon had the largest adsorption capacity by mass, but the hydrochars had a significantly larger capacity by surface area. We attributed this result to the larger number of functional groups on the hydrochar surface.

• This report represents the work of one or more WPI undergraduate students submitted to the faculty as evidence of completion of a degree requirement. WPI routinely publishes these reports on its website without editorial or peer review.

Creator

• Quinn, Shaelyn Marie
• Adhikari, Abhinav

Publisher

• Worcester Polytechnic Institute

Identifier

• E-project-042517-195914

Advisor

• Timko, Michael T.

Year

• 2017

Date created

• 2017-04-25

Resource type

• Major Qualifying Project

Major

• Chemical Engineering

Rights statement

• In Copyright