Abstract
The present study provides information about the binding of Pb(II) ions on an eco-friendly and easily available biodegradable biomass Trifolium resupinatum. The powdered biomass was characterized by FTIR, potentiometric titration and surface area analyses. The FTIR spectrum showed the presence of hydroxyl, carbonyl and amino functional groups and Pb(II) ions bound with the oxygen- and nitrogen-containing sites (hydroxyl and amino groups). The acidic groups were also confirmed by titrations. Effects of various environmental parameters (time, pH and concentration) have been studied. The biosorption process achieved equilibrium in a very short period of time (25 min). Non-linear approach for Langmuir and Freundlich models was used to study equilibrium process and root mean-square error was used as an indicator to decide the fitness of the mathematical model. The biosorption process was found to follow pseudo-second-order kinetics and was very fast. Thus, the biomass can be cost-effectively used for the binding of Pb(II) ions from aqueous solutions.
Highlights
A number of heavy metal ions are essential in diverse physiological functions and are essential for life
The spectrum for simple TRB revealed various functional groups in TRB which are responsible for biosorption. These groups include hydroxyl (–OH) group and amino group (–NH2) having peak at 3292.84 cm-1, alkyl (–R, CHn) group having peak at 2926.01 cm-1, C=O bond of carboxyl group and their esters having a peak at 1597.06 cm-1, and other peaks at 1421.54, 1346.31 and 1299.87 cm-1 for asymmetric stretching of the carboxylate ion (C–O) or phosphate double bond
The present study is aimed at exploring the biomass from T. resupinatum for the removal of toxic metal Pb(II) ions from aqueous solution
Summary
A number of heavy metal ions are essential in diverse physiological functions and are essential for life. Heavy metals become toxic to human beings. Lead and lead compounds are generally toxic pollutants (EPA safe limit is 0.015 mg/L (Obuseng et al 2012). Lead ions cause a number of disorders such as behavior and learning disabilities, vomiting, slow growth, neurotoxin (Riaz et al 2009) and problems of the gastrointestinal and reproductive tract (Ibrahim et al 2012). Lead compounds are known to be metal poison and enzyme inhibitor (Munagapati et al 2010). The modern and developing technique for metal removal is biosorption—a process of heavy metal removal by ‘dead’ biological materials (Bingol et al 2012). Biosorption by materials from higher plants is a relatively low-cost process. Peels from Punica granatum (Ay et al 2012), Moringa oleifera seeds biomass (Obuseng et al 2012), M. oleifera leaves (Reddy et al 2010a), M. oleifera bark (Reddy et al 2010b), Gossypium hirsutum (cotton) waste (Riaz et al 2009), Pinus sylvestris cone biomass (Ucun et al 2003), Calophyllum inophyllum seed husk (Lawal et al 2010), Agave sisalana (sisal fiber) (dos Santos et al 2011) and straw
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