Influence of Operating Environments on Adsorptive Removal of Lead (Pb (II)) Using Banana Pseudostem Fiber: Isotherms and Kinetic Study

Abstract

Natural fiber as adsorbents is an emerging trend in effluent treatments as the fibers are environmental friendly, abundantly available and superior to polymeric-based materials. In this study, fiber extracted from the banana pseudostem was tested as an adsorbent. The lead (Pb (II)) removal was assessed with various parameters, namely, pH, agitation speed, adsorbent dosage and contact time. Removal efficiency was found maximum in alkaline conditions (pH 10) with a contact time of 140 min. Its efficiency was further optimized for adsorbent dosage and agitation speed. Between the isothermic model and Temkin isotherm model predicted the conditions better by providing the highest respective coefficient of determination (R2 – 0.9942). Similarly, the kinetics for adsorption was fitted well with pseudo-second-order kinetic model. Banana pseudostem fiber (BPF) could be a promising source and low-cost adsorbent to remove toxic heavy metals in industrial effluents.

Keywords

• pseudostem fiber
• effluent
• lead
• heavy metal
• kinetics
• environment