Abstract: The efficiency of activated carbon of fresh water algae (FWA) a low cost adsorbent for removing Ni ions from aqueous solution and was evaluated by varying various parameters such as pH, contact time, FWA dose and initial Ni ion concentration. With increasing adsorbent dose and contact time the percentage of Ni removal increases. The percentage removal of Ni at low concentration (20mg/l) was found to be 84.17% in 120 min. for 1gm adsorbent dose. The percentage removal of Ni at high concentration (100mg/l) was found to be 86.70% in 120 min. for 1gm adsorbent dose. The percent removal of Ni at low concentration (20mg/l) and low contact time (30min) was found to be 45.35%. The percent removal of Ni at high concentration (100mg/l) and low contact time (30min) was found to be 48.50%. The maximum removal percentage of Ni at pH = 5 were found to be 84.25% for 100 mg/l at 120 min. The percentage removal of Ni at low adsorbent dose (0.2g) was found to be 57.29% for 100 mg/l at 120 min. The results revealed that the Nickel is considerably adsorbed on FWA and it could be an economically viable method for the removal of nickel ions from aqueous solution.

Keywords: Adsorption, Fresh water algae, Nickel.