Studies on biosorption of Cr(VI) on a green resin: dry cow dung powder and tracer technique

Abstract

Abstract The present investigation entails the application of dry cow dung powder (DCP) as an indigenous, inexpensive and eco-friendly material for the removal of Cr(VI) from aqueous medium. Batch biosorption experiments were conducted employing 51Cr(VI) as a tracer and the effect of various process parameters such as optimum pH, temperature, amount of resin, time of equilibration, agitation speed, concentration of metal ions and interfering effect of different salts etc. were studied. The kinetic studies were carried out employing various models but the best fitting was given by Lagergren Pseudo-second order model with high correlation coefficient R 2 value of 0.997 and adsorption capacity of 10.20 mg/g. The thermodynamic parameters for biosorption were evaluated as Δ Gº = −2.837 kJ/mol, Δ Hº = −4.757 kJ/mol and ΔSº = 16.64 J/mol K, which indicated spontaneous and exothermic process with high affinity of DCP for Cr(VI). Many naturally available materials are used for the biosorption of heavy metal pollutants, where most of them are physically or chemically modified. In this research work, DCP has been utilized without any pre or post chemical treatment. Thus it manifests the principle of green chemistry and proves to be an eco-friendly resin.