Removal of Cu (II) ion from Ezana (Meli) Gold Mining Wastewater Using Eucalyptus Bark as Adsorbent

Abstract

This study investigated the potential use of Eucalyptus Bark (EB) powder as an adsorbent in batch mode experiments for removal of Cu2+ from Ezana (Meli) wastewater. The discharge of untreated gold mining wastewater contaminated by Cu (II), which is threatening ecosystems and carcinogenic to the human. Since the removal by using adsorption method is cost effective and environmentally friendly, it has been widely studied by many researchers. Characterizations of Eucalyptus Bark were analyzed using proximate analysis, Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) and X-ray diffractometer (XRD). Various characterization techniques showed that the effluent discharged from the factory contains: total suspended solid (TSS), turbidity, Electrical conductivity (EC), Total dissolved solid (TDS), COD, Temperature, pH, cyanide WAD with <11°C (ppm). Atomic absorption spectroscopy study indicated that heavy metals found in the wastewater were in the order Fe2+> Cu (II) >Pb (II) >Mn> Cr (VI) >Zn > Co > Ni > Cd in ppm. The selected parameters were pH, adsorbent dosage and contacting time. The highest percentage of Cu (II) removal achieved was 92%. In this study, the adsorption data were well-fitted to the Langmuir isotherm model.

Current Development of Sorbents Derived From Plant and Animal Waste as Green Solution for Treating Polluted Aqueous Media

“…The comparative analysis consisting of chemically impregnated EB, carbonized EB, and hybrid activated EB found that a hybrid chemical and thermal activation was useful to significantly boost sorbent efficacy. Other study deployed EB based sorbent for Cu(II) metal ions removal from raw gold mining wastewater and reported a satisfactory outcome [52]. In this study, raw powder EB put in wastewater with high heavy metals content could result in maximum removal efficiency of Cu (II) by around 92% at pH 5 after 90 min.…”