adsorption capacities greater than 1.

0 mg/g were obtained for all the metal ions studied by

a s

Ali et al. (2010)[106].

Many industrial wastes are high in carbon content and offer significant potential for conversion
d f g

into carbonaceous chars which may then be further activated to yield porous adsorbents. Like g

gricultural waste, industrial by-products such as fly ash ,used tyres, waste iron, metallic iron,
ha j

hydrous titanium oxide, and blast furnace slag are inexpensive and abundantly available (Mohan
j k l z

et al., 2006)[107]. These materials can be c hemically modified to enhance their removal
x cc v

performance. However, unlike those from agricultural waste, adsorbents from this source can be
b

obtained from industrial processing only. In South Africa, several such wastes currently pose a
n m

variety of disposal problems due to bulk volume, auto reactivity or physical nature like oily
m q

wastes and scrap tyres. Thus, the controlled epyrolysis of these wastes combined with the reuse
w r

of porous products contributes to a minimization of handling difficulties (Pollard et al.,

t y

1992)[108]. Some of these industrial by-products combine good adsorption capacities and
y u y

buffering effect, which assure almost complete removal of heavy metal ions without preliminary
y y u

correction of the initial pH being necessary. Fly ash, an industrial solid waste of thermal power
i o

plants is one of the cheapest adsorbents having excellent removal capabilities for different
p z w r

wastes. South Africa produces approximately 28 million tons of coal fly ash per annum q

(Reynolds et al., 2002)[108]. Only 5% of the fly ash is used as a construction material while the e

rest is stored in ash damps, which in turn have to be rehabilitated increasing the cost of ash
t q

handling (Woolardet al., 2000)[109]. Sen and De (1987) carried out a study on the adsorption of z

mercury using coal fly ash and it was reported that the maximum adsorption capacity of 2.82 mg
v b

Hg2+/g took place at a pH range of 3.5–4.5 and that adsorption followed the Freundlich n m

model[110]. In another work, a comparative adsorption study was carried out by Jain et al.
l p r

(2001) using carbon slurry waste obtained from a fertilizer plant and blast furnace sludge, dust,
a s

and slag from steel plant wastes as adsorbents for the removal of dyes[111]. It was found that
f

carbonaceous adsorbent prepared from the fertilizer plant waste exhibited a good potential for
h n t

the removal of dyes as compared to the other three adsorbents prepared. Adsorption is
s w a

influenced by the nature of solution in which the contaminant is dispersed, molecular size and
t e

polarity of the contaminant and the type of adsorbent. Food processing wastewater often
i c

contains multiple types of contaminants that are generally biodegradable. There are various
y r

types of wastewater discharged from the food processing industry due to the fact that the number
e t s

of raw materials
f