Abstract:
Industrial and technological advancements have been able to
improve the welfare of humanity, but present the consequences of
environmental pollution which ultimately also affects human life.
The well water used by residents as a necessity of life can be
polluted due to gold mining because the gold mining is located not
far from the residential area. The purpose of this study is to
determine the levels of mercury in the liquid medium before and
after the adsorption process, determine the ability of coal fly ash
as an adsorbent in absorbing mercury in the liquid medium and
determine the optimum contact times in mass variations of coal fly
ash.
Activation of coal fly ash was done by calcination for 2 hours,
followed by measurement of initial concentration for liquid
medium, the adsorption process is carried out with a coal fly ash
mass variation of 4, 6, 8 and 10 g, and variations of adsorption
time that is 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50 minutes. From the results of the
study, obtained levels of mercury in the liquid medium before the
adsorption process was carried out at 0.3263 ppm and after the
adsorption process ranged from 0.2053 to 0.3023 ppm. Thus, coal
fly ash has a low absorption ability to mercury in liquid medium
and the best contact time where adsorption occurs for a mass of 6
g is at 10 minutes which is equal to 0.1210 ppm.
Keywords:
Mercury
Adsorption
Activation
