Removal of heavy metals in aqueous solution using orange albedo

Abstract

Nowadays, many attentions are centering on the cheap, high efficiency, and friendly products that can remove heavy metals from wastewater. In this study, the efficacy of orange albedo, a waste from drink industry, and its modified forms were investigated for adsorptive removal of heavy metal, specifically Nickel (II) and Cadmium (II), from aqueous solution. The chemical-physical parameters such as pH, contact time, initial metal ion concentrations and adsorbent dose were studied in batch series. The results revealed that modified orange albedo had better adsorption ability than raw albedo. The highest yield for Ni (II) removal in aqueous solution reached 95.60% at the following conditions: pH 3, 50 mg L-1 of initial metal concentration, 0.10 g adsorbent dose and 60 min contact time. The best yield for Cd (II) was 99.56% at pH 4, 50 mg L-1 metal concentration, 0.10 g adsorbent and 180 min shaking. Moreover, the modified orange albedo after use can be treated with HCl and reused. The experiment showed that, in the concentration range from 0.02 M to 0.10 M, the higher the HCl concentration, the better the removal yield of both Ni (II) (78.80% at 0.1 M HCl) and Cd (II) (86.00% at 0.1 M HCl). Keywords: Adsorption Orange albedo Heavy metal removal Heavy metal quantification Regeneration