Sorption of lanthanum and erbium from aqueous solution by activated carbon prepared from rice husk

A biomass agricultural waste material, rice husk (RH) was used for preparation of activated carbon by chemical activation using phosphoric acid. The effect of various factors, e.g. time, pH, initial concentration and temperature of carbon on the adsorption capacity of lanthanum and erbium was quantitatively determined. It was found that the monolayer capacity is 175.4 mg g−1 for La(III) and 250 mg g−1 for Er(III). The calculated activation energy of La(III) adsorption on the activated carbon derived from rice husk was equal to 5.84 kJ/mol while it was 3.6 kJ/mol for Er(III), which confirm that the reaction is mainly particle-diffusion-controlled. The kinetics of sorption was described by a model of a pseudo-second-order. External diffusion and intra-particular diffusion were examined. The experimental data show that the external diffusion and intra-particular diffusion are significant in the determination of the sorption rate. Therefore, the developed sorbent is considered as a better replacement technology for removal of La(III) and Er(III) ions from aqueous solution due to its low-cost and good efficiency, fast kinetics, as well as easy to handle and thus no or small amount of secondary sludge is obtained in this application.