Review of Almond (Prunus Dulcis) Shell Use to Remove Pollutants from Aquatic Environments

Abstract

We summarized the literature data on using ground almond (Prunus dulcis) green hull and shell as sorption materials to remove various metal ions, dyes, and some organic compounds from aqueous media. This paper provides brief information on the amount of waste generated from processing almonds, their chemical composition, and ways of reuse. It gives the adsorption processes parameters and the values of sorption parameters for the studied pollutants. It was shown that almond shells’ sorption characteristics for various pollutants could be increased by chemical modification with various chemical reagents. It was determined that the Langmuir model more accurately describes the pollutants adsorption isotherms in most cases, and the kinetics of the process in all cases follows the pseudo-second-order model. It was shown that almond hulls and shells are a good precursor for activated carbons production.