Abstract
Water pollution is one of the major challenges in cities and industrialized areas of the world. The effluent from Gombe ternary wastewater pollutes the surrounding waters thereby constituting health threat to the populace within its vicinity. In view of the above, a bio-sorption study of zinc and lead ions from Gombe ternary wastewater using doum palm seed kernel was carried out. The wastewater was characterized and was found to contain 0.03 mg/l lead metal ion and 0.81 mg/l zinc ion. The doum palm kernel bio-sorbent was obtained after oil extraction from the seed and processed as contained in the method mentioned in this paper. The kernel residue was characterized for functional groups using FTIR, surface morphology using SEM, surface area using BET, and elemental composition using XRF. The results indicated that the doum palm kernel is harmless, and possesses functional groups on its surface, which may be substituted with the metallic ions present in the wastewater. This gives the kernel the ability to adsorb positively charged ions on its surface by simple chemisorption. This mechanism is supported by the rough surface observed in the scanning electron microscopy. Adsorption and desorption of nitrogen was made at STP and the curve indicated very high correlation of close to unity. The surface area measured by multi BET method was recorded as 13.464 m 2 /g. This value is not high enough to adsorb metals by physical adsorption.
Highlights
The pollution of water resources due to the disposal of heavy metals has been causing worldwide concern
Excess amount of zinc may cause zinc toxicity which leads to a severe hemolytic anomie, liver and kidney damages; vomiting and diarrhea are possible symptoms [23]
The result of the FTIR indicated that doum palm kernel is anionic in nature and adsorb positively charged ions present by chemisorption
Summary
The pollution of water resources due to the disposal of heavy metals has been causing worldwide concern. Wastewater discharge from chemical industries contain high amount of heavy metals such as Cr, Cu, Cd, Ni, As, Pb, Hg, and Zn which are hazardous to the environment [14]. Heavy metals in wastewaters are hazardous to the environment and their removal before waste water discharge is apparent [19]. These substances are stable and persistent environmental contaminants since they are nonbiodegradable [19]. Heavy metals released to environment have continuously increasing trends as a result of industrial activities and technological developments, which is a significant threat to the environment and public health due to their toxicity, accumulation in food chain and persistence in nature.
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