Heavy Metals Bounding Ability of Pomegranate (Punica granatum) Peel in Model System

Abstract

Pomegranate fruit is an important sources of natural phenolic compounds. In this study, the influence of pomegranate fruit peel on binding of some heavy metals were established by Inductively Coupled Plasma Atomic Emission Spectrometry (ICP-AES). Also, the total phenolic content of methanol extract of pomegranate fruit peel was determined with the Folin-Ciocalteu method. Amounts of 1, 2, 3, 10, 20, 40, and 60 g of ground peel were used in this experiment. After pomegranate samples were weighed, they were added into 500 ml baker. Each sample was treated by several solutions contained the heavy metal elements at different concentrations. The heavy metal contents in the solutions prepared with ground material were decreased with increasing of ground material. At the same time, the bounding rate of heavy metals increased with the increase of ground peel amounts. Lead (Pb) with 99.2% rate for solution obtained from 20 g ground sample was the highest bound element. It can be observed from these results that the amount of metal ions bound by the ground material differed from on fraction to others.