Department of Polymer, Textile and Industrial Engineering

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Browsing Department of Polymer, Textile and Industrial Engineering by Author "Mutyaba, Fahadi"

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    Synthesis of chitosan modified rotten bagasse biochar for lead (ii) ions removal from industrial paint wastewater
    (Busitema university, 2026) Mutyaba, Fahadi; Latabo, Jacquline
    Lead (II) ions presence in industrial wastewater poses a critical environmental and public health challenge where paint manufacturing industries discharge effluents containing lead concentration as high as 3.88mg/L far exceeding the NEMA permissible limit of 01mg/L and the WHO drinking water guideline of 0.01mg/L. conversional remediation techniques such as chemical precipitation, ion exchange, reverse osmosis and electrochemical reduction are effective but very costly, energy intensive and produce possible secondary pollutants creating an urgent need for low-cost, locally viable and environmentally sustainable alternatives. This study therefore synthesised and evaluated a chitosan modified rotten bagasse biochar as an adsorbent for the selective and efficient removal of lead (II) ions from real industrial paint wastewater. Sugar cane was subjected to anaerobic biodegradation for 2 months to enhance porosity and mineral content, then pyrolysed under limited oxygen at 600℃ for 2 hours to produce RBB which was subsequently modified with chitosan. The bio composite adsorbent was characterised using SEM-EDX and FTIR which revealed the presence of mineral elements due to decomposition and increased surface function groups (-NH2 and -OH) after chitosan modification suggesting ion exchange and surface complexation during adsorption. Optimal adsorption conditions were established at an adsorbent dosage of 1.65g, pH of 6.7 and contact time of 80 minutes with predicted maximum removal efficiency of 87.4% and an equilibrium adsorption capacity of 1.835mg/g which was superior to both pristine RBB (1.23mg/g) and Ch-RBB (1.49 mg/g). Adsorption kinetics were best described by the PSO model with R2 = 0.988 which confirmed chemisorption as the dominant rate controlling mechanism while Boyd model analysis indicated that film diffusion governs the initial adsorption stage and intraparticle diffusion controls the later stage, together constituting a multi stage diffusion controlled process.