Biosorption of Copper (II) from Aqueous Solution using a Combination of Orange Peels and Tea Waste

Abstract

The ability of biosorbents, which are a combination of orange peels and tea waste to treat copper (II) using the biosorption method was examined. The experiment was performed under batch biosorption studies with various operating parameters. The pH, biosorbent dosage, contact time, and initial copper (II) concentration were optimized from pH 3 - 8, 0.25 - 1.0 g, 2 - 20 minutes and 10 - 100 mg/L, respectively. The findings found that a pH of 5.5, a biosorbent dosage of 0.75 g, a contact period of 5 minutes, and an initial copper (II) concentration of 10 mg/L were shown to be the best operating parameters for copper (II) biosorption. For isotherm models, the experimental data for copper (II) biosorption was fitted to the Langmuir isotherm with R2 value of 0.7775 compared to the Freundlich isotherm model with R2 value of 0.1073. The value for RL was 0.4, indicating that copper (II) biosorption using the combination of orange peels and tea waste is favourable. For kinetic models, the experimental data for copper (II) biosorption was well fitted to the pseudo-second-order kinetic model with R2 value of 0.9865 compared to the pseudo-first-order kinetic model with R2 value of 0.1006. In conclusion, the combination of orange peels and tea waste functions very well for biosorption of copper (II).