Bone char is traditionally used in sugar industry for color and turbidity
removal. Due to its excellent adsorptive character, it has been applied for the removal of
metals from mining and metallurgical effluents, dyes from textile industry wastewater,
flotation reagents in iron mineral processing and defluoridation of water. A detailed
characterization of bone char was conducted in the present study. Thermodynamic and
kinetics aspects of adsorption using bone char in these systems are presented. The
results depict a high affinity of bone char for both organic and inorganic compounds
which makes it a potential adsorbent for chemically complex solutions. The adsorption
mechanisms are also discussed.
Keywords: Bone char, calcination, porosity, zeta potential, adsorption, adsorption
kinetics, adsorption capacity, isotherm models, pH effect, (In)organic pollutants,
dyes, amines, defluoridation.
