Cadmium Biosorption on Vegetal Biomass

Abstract

Effective removal of heavy metals from wastewater is one of the most important environmental challenges facing the world. Various techniques are used to remove the metals. Biosorption has gained credibility in the last decade because of its good performance and low cost. The objective of this study is to explore the use of olive pits for cadmium wastewater removal. The effects of mixing rate, pH, particle size, biomass and initial concentration and equilibrium metal ion concentration are evaluated. Results indicate nearly linear uptake by the biomass with increasing initial cadmium concentration. Adsorption increases rapidly in the pH range of 3-9, then levels off. Cadmium concentration uptake increase with increasing biomass concentration until reaching 5 g/L. Mixing rates up to 250 rpm increase uptake, however, higher mixing rates result in a vortex that incorporated air into the mixture, this resulted in a decrease in uptake. The adsorption isotherm appears to follow the Langmuir model.