6. Production of Activated Carbon from Agro-industrial Wastes and Its Potential Use for Removal of Heavy Metal in Textile Industrial Wastewater

Water pollution due to textile industrial wastewater discharge has become one of serious issues especially in developing countries, including Indonesia. The wastewater has a dangerous impact on the surrounding environment and living things including animals and human, since it contains some heavy metals, which have a tendency to accumulate in nature and do not decompose by nature. Accumulation of these heavy metals in the human body until certain level could cause some diseases. Therefore, this wastewater has to be treated first before safely discharged into the environment. One of the most promising methods to remove these heavy metals from the wastewater is by adsorption process. In the recent years, there have been a trend to utilize biomass or agro-industrial wastes based adsorbent due to their availability (abundant in nature), minimal effort, and biodegradability. The use of agro-industrial wastes to produce biomass-based activated carbon for removal of heavy metals in textile industrial wastewater could become one of the best promising alternatives to solve wastewater problem from textile industry as well as waste from agro-industry. This chapter focuses on the preparation, physical characterization, and adsorption properties of several bio-based activated carbon made of agro-industrial wastes.