Biosorption of Cadmium, Lead, and Uranium by Powder of Poplar Leaves and Branches

Abstract

The removal of metal ions from aqueous solutions by biosorption plays an important role in water pollution control. In this study, dried leaves and branches of poplar trees were studied for removing some toxic elements (cadmium, lead, and uranium) from aqueous solutions. The equilibrium experiments were systematically carried out in a batch process, covering various process parameters that include agitation time, adsorbent size and dosage, initial cadmium, lead and uranium concentration, and pH of the aqueous solution. Adsorption behavior was found to follow Freundlich and Langmuir isotherms. The results have shown that both dried leaves and branches can be effectively used for removing uranium, while only branches were found to remove lead and cadmium completely from the aqueous solution. The maximum biosorption capacity of leaves for uranium was found to be 2.3 mg g(-1) and 1.7 mg g(-1) and 2.1 mg g(-1) for lead and cadmium on branches, respectively. In addition, the studied biomass materials were used in removing lead and cadmium from contaminated water and the method was found to be effective.

State of the Art for the Biosorption Process—a Review

“…All kinds of microbial, plant and animal biomass and their derivative products, have received great interest in a variety of ways and in relation to a variety of substances [6–8]. However, in recent years attention has been driven towards the agricultural waste materials, polysaccharides, and industrial waste biomaterials [9–12].…”

Biogeochemistry of uranium in the soil-plant and water-plant systems in an old uranium mine

“…Among these, microbiological remediation (e.g., Acharya et al, 2009;Campbell et al, 2015;Groudev et al, 2008;Newsome et al, 2014), phytoremediation (e.g., Ebbs et al, 1998;Malaviya and Singh, 2012;Stojanović et al, 2016;Vandenhove et al, 2001), and biosorption (e.g., Bhainsa and D'Souza, 2001;Hu et al, 1996;Li et al, 2004;Wang et al, 2010;Yi et al, 2016aYi et al, , 2016b has been increasingly considered as a potential alternative way to remove U from industrial and mining effluents. Several plant species and/or derived biomaterials have been studied for U biosorption from contaminated water (e.g., Al-Masri et al, 2010;Bhainsa and D'Souza, 2001;Parab et al, 2005;Yi et al, 2016aYi et al, , 2016b. Besides the plant derived biomaterials, studies have also been performed on U biosorption by filamentous fungi (e.g., Akhtar et al, 2009;Pang et al, 2011;Wang et al, 2010), yeast (e.g., Bai et al, 2010), algae (e.g., Bhat et al, 2008) and bacteria (e.g., Hu et al, 1996;Li et al, 2004).…”

Iron Oxide Impregnated Morus alba L. Fruit Peel for Biosorption of Co(II): Biosorption Properties and Mechanism

“…Biosorption has potential marketing advantages over other traditional wastewater treatment technologies including low cost, high efficiency, minimization of chemical and low biological sludge, no additional nutrient requirement, regeneration of biosorbent along strong ability to bind metal ions, and possibility of metal recovery and environmental friendly, particularly when natural biomass is used [29]. Among the various biomaterials employed, natural biomass obtained from various fruits peels was used as potential biosorbent for removal of various pollutants, especially metal ions [30–33]. …”