Abstract
Sawdust is a waste material, which is generally produced during making furniture and other necessary wood products. With a view to utilizing this waste material, a biosorbent was prepared from mahogany (Swietenia macrophylla) sawdust through simple chemical treatment and was used to remove nickel ion (Ni2+) from an aqueous solution. The adsorbent material was characterized by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) analysis. The effects of biosorbent dosage (2∼18 g/L), pH of the tested solution (4∼10.5), contact time (up to 360 min), and temperature (298∼318 K) were studied in batchwise experiments. The maximum adsorption capacity of the treated sawdust was determined to be 13.42 mg/g at an optimum condition (sorbent dose of 15 g/L, pH of 9, and temperature of 298 K). The experimental data extrapolation revealed that the adsorption process fitted the Langmuir isotherm model and the kinetics was a pseudo-second-order kinetic model. The obtained thermodynamic parameters indicated that the adsorption reaction was spontaneous, endothermic, and random in nature. The study revealed that sawdust biosorbent has potential adsorption efficiency for nickel ion removal from an aqueous solution.
Highlights
Environmental pollution by the presence of heavy metals has aroused enormous attention of researchers because of their toxicity, harmfulness, and nondegradability in the ecosystem [1,2,3]
Characterization of the Biosorbent. e structure of the adsorbent is important to know the morphology of the biosorbent and to understand the adsorption process. e cell walls of sawdust mainly consist of cellulose, hemicellulose, lignin, tannins, etc., which contain a considerable amount of hydroxyl groups [23]
The mahogany sawdust, a locally available and cheap material, is applied as a biosorbent for the removal of nickel ions (Ni (II)) from an aqueous solution. e kinetic studies specified that the equilibrium state in the adsorption of nickel ions on sawdust was reached in 120 min of contact between the adsorbate and adsorbent at a stirring speed of 200 rpm
Summary
Environmental pollution by the presence of heavy metals has aroused enormous attention of researchers because of their toxicity, harmfulness, and nondegradability in the ecosystem [1,2,3]. Metal-containing effluents from different activities (e.g., domestic, industrial, and agriculture) pollute the aqueous environment (both surface and underground water) continuously. Heavy metals are considered to be significantly dangerous to mankind because of their hazardous nature [4]. Nickel concentrations in air are typically 0.00001–0.003 μg/ m3 in remote places, 0.003–0.03 μg/m3 in municipal and metropolitan places, and 0.07–0.77 μg/m3 in nickel processing industries as well as in similar manufacturing plants [7]. According to the World Health Organization (WHO, the year 2020), the nickel concentration in drinking water is 2–13 μg/L in European countries
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