The kinetics, equilibrium and thermodynamics of the biosorption of Cd (II) from aqueous solution
by the leaf biomass of
Calotropis procera
popularly known in western Nigeria as ‘
bom bom’and genrally known as
Sodom apple were investigated at different experimental conditions. Optimum conditions of pH, contact time, biomass
dosage, initial metal ion concentration and temperature were determined to be 5, 60 minutes, 110 mg, 0.3 mM and
27°C respectively. The maximum biosorption capacity was found to be 8.91 mg/g. The kinetic studies indicated that
the biosorption process of the metal ion followed the pseudo-second-order and intraparticle diffusion models with an
R
2 value of 0.998 and 0.985 respectively. Equilibrium studies showed that the biosorption of Cd (II) is well represented
by both Freundlich and Langmuir isotherms but the Langmuir model gave a better fit with an R
2 value of 0.979,
Langmuir constant b
m of 0.0080 and monolayer adsorption capacity, Γ
m of 123.46. The calculated thermodynamic
parameters (Δ G° -4.846 kJmol
-1, Δ H° 10.60 kJmol
-1 and Δ S° 0.052 kJK
-1mol
-1) showed that the biosorption of Cd (II)
is feasible, spontaneous, endothermic and highly disordered in nature under the experimental conditions. These
findings indicate that the leaf of
Calotropis procera could be employed in the removal of Cd (II) from industrial
effluents.