Adsorption Studies on Bagasse for Removal of Residual Chlorine from Its Aqueous Solution

The amount of chlorine left after the disinfection is known as residual chlorine. Though chlorine has been used as disinfectant for many decades, presence of excess chlorine was observed to be very harmful to health. It is advised to avoid direct skin contact to chlorine and not inhale the fumes of oxides of chlorine. Generally chlorination, the disinfection process is placed at the tertiary level in drinking water treatment process. To overcome future contamination little amount of chlorine was allowed to be left in the water even after dechlorination. However this residual chlorine must be removed before the distribution for the reasons cited above. Sugar cane bagasse, an agro industrial waste made activated carbon, was reported to be an effective absorbent in many applications. This study investigates the effective removal of residual chlorine with cheap and easily available adsorbent, bagasse as such without activation. The adsorption capacity of the developed bagasse is comparable to the other available adsorbents, and cost wise it is calculated to be cheaper. Batch adsorption experiments were performed as a function of contact time, adsorbent dose, and pH. Isotherm studies, kinetics and diffusion studies were performed. This study also compares and enumerates the effect of pre-treatment over natural usage of bagasse as such as an adsorbent.