Adsorption and Recovery Studies of Cadmium and Lead Ions Using Biowaste Adsorbents from Aqueous Solution

The use of low-cost biowaste adsorbents for the removal of toxic metal ions from aqueous solutions offers significant environmental benefits. This research evaluated the adsorption and recovery of Cd<sup>2+</sup> and Pb<sup>2+</sup> ions in batch and column modes with luffa p...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Liang Feng, Enju Wang
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2025-01-01
Series:Separations
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2297-8739/12/1/16
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Summary:The use of low-cost biowaste adsorbents for the removal of toxic metal ions from aqueous solutions offers significant environmental benefits. This research evaluated the adsorption and recovery of Cd<sup>2+</sup> and Pb<sup>2+</sup> ions in batch and column modes with luffa peels and chamomile flowers. The biosorbents were treated with 0.4 M nitric acid or with 0.4 M NaOH base. An FTIR analysis of the sorbents indicated that surface OH, C=O, CO and COO groups played a role in the adsorption process. L-type isotherms were obtained for Pb<sup>2+</sup>, fitting both the Langmuir and Freundlich models, with maximum adsorption capacities of 34.0 mg/g for luffa peels and 49.5 mg/g for chamomile flowers. Adsorption isotherms for Cd<sup>2+</sup> ion fit better with the Freundlich model with smaller adsorption capacity than Pb<sup>2+</sup>. Base-treated sorbents have higher adsorption capacity. The adsorption kinetic for both ions are fast and followed a pseudo-second order chemosorption model. Fixed-bed column dynamic adsorption with luffa peels obtained a Thomas dynamic adsorption capacity of 32.9 mg/g for Pb<sup>2+</sup> and 25.8 mg/g for Cd<sup>2+</sup>. The recovery efficiency was 87 to 90% over three adsorption–regeneration cycles.
ISSN:2297-8739