Cadmium ion removal using biosorbents derived from fruit peel wastes

Abstract

The ability of fruit peel wastes, corn, durian, pummelo, and banana, to remove cadmium ions from aqueous solution by biosorption were investigated. The experiments were carried out by batch method at 25oC. The influence of particle sizes, solution pH, and initial cadmium ion concentrations were evaluated on the biosorption studies. The result showed that banana peel had the highest cadmium ions removal followed by durian, pummelo, and corn peels at cadmium ions removal of 73.15, 72.17, 70.56, and 51.22%, respectively. There was a minimal effect when using different particle sizes of corn peel as biosorbent, while the particle size of the others had no influence on the removal of cadmium ions. The cadmium ions removal increased significantly as the pH of the solution increased rapidly from 1 to 5. At pH 5, the cadmium ions removal reached a maximum value. The equilibrium process was best described by the Langmuir isotherms, with maximum biosorption capacities of durian, pummelo, and banana peel of 18.55, 21.83, and 20.88 mg/g respectively. Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy revealed that carboxyl, hydroxyl, and amide groups on the fruit peels’ surface and these groups were involved in the adsorption of the cadmium ions.

Keywords

• fruit peel
• cadmium ions
• biosorption
• wastewater treatment
• biosorbent