Removal of Heavy Metals Cd(II) and Al(III) from Aqueous Solutions by an Eco-Friendly Biosorbent

Abstract

Heavy metals are very toxic water pollutant. Their presence not only affect human beings but also animals and vegetation because of their mobility in aqueous ecosystem, toxicity and non-biodegradability [1].in the aim of removing heavy metals from aqueous solutions, an eco-friendly biosorbent was prepared from lagoon sludge by a humification process. The biosorption of Cd2+ and Al3+ ions from aqueous solutions was investigated as a function of initial pH,contact time, initial metal ions concentration, and temperature. Langmuir and Freundlich models were used to determine the sorption isotherm. Optimum pH for the removal of cadmium and aluminum was found respectively to be around 6 and 4 [2] . The equilibrium was obtained in 60 min with the pseudo-second-order kinetic model. The Langmuir model was a better fit with the experimental data for both cadmium and aluminum adsorption with a regression coefficient up to 0.99 and Qmax of 100 and 142 mg.g-1 respectively for Cd2+and Al3+.