Using of wooden sawdust for copper removal from waters

Abstract

The heavy metal removal from wastewater is very important due to their persistent character in aquatic environment. The use of wooden sawdust is emerging as a potential alternative to the existing conventional technologies for the removal of metal ions from aqueous solutions. The aim of this work is to study the Cu(II) removal of from water by unconventional waste products including the wooden sawdust of poplar, cherry, spruce and hornbeam. The FT-IR spectra of the studied wooden sawdust confirmed the presence of functional groups that have potential for heavy metal binding. The highest efficiency of Cu(II) removal was observed for poplar wooden sawdust at static (86 %) and dynamic (88 %) adsorption experiments. Data obtained by neutron activation analysis revealed that ion exchange is also a mechanism of metal removal by the selected wooden sawdust.

Keywords

• Heavy metals
• Water treatment
• Adsorption
• Wooden sawdust