Abstract
Rapid industrialization, urbanization and population growth have resulted in air, water and land pollution. Water pollution is a major concern across the globe. Discharge of huge amount of industrial wastewater adversely affects the human and environment. Heavy metal pollution is considered to be one of the serious environmental problems today. Due to strict environmental regulations in the country, it is required to bring down the pollution level to a permissible limit. The present study assessed the capability of Azadirachta indica (neem leaf) powder as a natural adsorbent in the removal of copper ions from aqueous solutions. The characterization of the adsorbent was performed using X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy. Series of batch experimental studies were carried out by changing the solution pH, stirring time, adsorbent dosage and stirring speed in the removal of copper from aqueous solution using A. indica as biosorbent. The experimental result shows that the percentage removal of copper was highest at the following optimized conditions: pH 7.0, stirring time 60 min and biosorbent dosage of 1.0 g and at 125 RPM speed. The studies indicate that A. indica is considered to be a promising type of biomass for the removal of copper ions from aqueous solutions.
Highlights
Chemical industries consume huge quantity of water during its physical, chemical and biological processing stages and discharge significant amount of wastewater (Manjunatha and Vagish 2016)
Surface characterization of biosorbent was carried out using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX)
The results indicate that an increase in stirring speed increased the percentage removal of copper for the range of 25–125 RPM
Summary
Chemical industries consume huge quantity of water during its physical, chemical and biological processing stages and discharge significant amount of wastewater (Manjunatha and Vagish 2016). Larger concentrations of copper in the effluent stream cause serious health problems in brain, kidney and anemia. Higher concentrations of Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, National University of Science & Technology - College of Engineering, Seeb, Oman copper cause vomiting, cramps, convulsions or even death (Paulino et al 2006). Which are expensive, non-degradable and toxic (Zhonghua et al 2003; Kumar et al 2007; Li et al 2009) This has inspired researchers to think about cheap and natural adsorbents such as biomass, tamarind seeds, pomegranate husk, rice husk and fly ash (Malairajan et al 2007; Suresh and Babu 2006; El Nemr 2007; Puziah and Chin 2007)
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