Heavy metal pollution removal from water using a cost-effective bio-adsorbent

Abstract

One of the worldwide environmental issues is water contamination by toxic heavy metals. Copper is considered one of the most common heavy metals founded in industrial wastes, and it has potential impacts on the ecosystem and human health. In order to remove copper from synthetic water, an economically effective adsorbent is required. Thus, this work evaluated the adsorption of copper by utilizing Westland Irish peat moss. The adsorbent was prepared by washing the Westland Irish peat moss using an acidic bath for half an hour with a continuous shaken process, then the mixture was centrifuged to separate the peat moss particles, which was washed using deionized water and dried using an oven. The dried sample was ground and sieved at 80 mesh screen before it was used as an adsorbent. The experiments were accomplished in a batch system as a function of initial solution pH, contact time as well as peat moss dosage. The maximum copper removal, 94.8%, was obtained at a pH of 6, optimum adsorption-equilibrium time of 80 minutes, and peat moss dosage of 7.5 g/L. Irish peat moss as an economically effective adsorbent was satisfactorily employed to remove copper from synthetic water.