![](/imgs/covers/ej_cover.jpg)
|
Electronic Journal of Biotechnology
Universidad Católica de Valparaíso
ISSN: 0717-3458
Vol. 10, No. 3, 2007, pp. 409-416
|
Bioline Code: ej07039
Full paper language: English
Document type: Research Article
Document available free of charge
|
|
Electronic Journal of Biotechnology, Vol. 10, No. 3, 2007, pp. 409-416
en |
Heavy metal uptake by agro based waste materials
Qaiser, Suleman; Saleemi, Anwar R. & Ahmad, Muhammad Mahmood
Abstract
Presence of heavy metals in the aquatic systems has become a serious problem. As a result, there has been a great deal of attention given to new technologies for removal of heavy metal ions from contaminated waters. Biosorption is one such emerging technology which utilized naturally occurring waste materials to sequester heavy metals from industrial wastewater. The aim of the present study was to utilize the locally available agricultural waste materials for heavy metal removal from industrial wastewater. The wastewater containing lead and hexavalent chromium was treated with biomass prepared from ficus religiosa leaves. It was fund that a time of one hr was sufficient for sorption to attain equilibrium. The equilibrium sorption capacity after one hr was 16.95 ± 0.75 mg g-1 and 5.66 ± 0.43 mg g-1 for lead and chromium respectively. The optimum pH was 4 for lead and 1 for chromium. Temperature has strong influence on biosorption process. The removal of lead decreased with increase in temperature. On the other hand chromium removal increased with increase in temperature up to 40°C and then started decreasing. Ion exchange was the major removal mechanism along with physical sorption and precipitation. The biosorption data was well fitted to Langmuir adsorption model. The kinetics of biosorption process was well described by the pseudo 2nd order kinetics model. It was concluded that adsorbent prepared from ficus religiosa leaves can be utilized for the treatment of heavy metals in wastewater.
Keywords
biosorption, ficus religiosa leaves, hexavalent chromium, kinetics, lead, wastewater.
|
|
© Copyright 2007 - Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso -- Chile Alternative site location: http://www.ejbiotechnology.info
|
|