Program: Collaborative Research Program for Alumni (CRA)

Field: Chemical Engineering

Principal Investigator: Dr. NGUYEN TUAN ANH

Sending University: Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology (HCMUT)

Japanese Co-Investigator: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Shiro YOSHIKAWA

Japanese University: Tokyo Institute of Technology

Year: 2014

Abstract:

Heavy metal contamination is a major problem of the environment especially in developing countries primarily due to uncontrolled pollution levels driven by causative factors like industrial and economic growth. It was proved that heavy metal ion can cause serious problems to human health as well as the ecosystem. Therefore there are numerous researches and several methods have been reported to reduce heavy metal ion in water such as membrane separation, extraction, precipitation, ion-exchange, biological process. Among them, adsorption technique has been widely used due to the versatility and effectiveness. There are many kinds of adsorbents, however the study of a low cost and environmental friendly adsorbent is always required. Scallop shell is the residue from the food industry, marine manufacturer and large amount is discharged annually. Most of them are dumped into landfill, which becomes potential environmental problem. In this study, scallop shell was recycled as an adsorbent for the removal of metal ion. The treatment of scallop shell by simple acid method was investigated for the enhancement of removal efficiency. In the conference, we meet a lot of researchers in my country and also from other Asean country. We also have chance to meet researchers in Japan and strengthen the networks. As the researchers, continuing doing research is compulsory. So the project give us the opportunity for that. And we learned a lot from the project, such as the corporation and network, the advance idea in the topic and researching ability. The use of residues presents twofold advantage to environmental pollution. Firstly, the volume of byproducts (or wastes) could be partly reduced and secondly the lowcost adsorbent, if developed, can reduce the pollution of wastewaters at reasonable cost