Adsorption Of Heavy Metal Ions Onto Natural And Chemically Treated Guazuma Ulmifolia Seeds

Abstract

Water is the most important resource for all living organisms on newlineearth At present water pollution has reached worrying proportions newlineworldwide due to the increase in population urbanization and newlineindustrialization Among the several water pollutants heavy metal ions are a newlinematter of great concern because of their toxic nature The direct discharge of newlinewastewater from electroplating metal finishing storage batteries textile newlinemining and leather industries is the major source of heavy metal newlinecontamination of the freshwater resources Heavy metals such as lead copper newlinenickel etc are not only toxic but also nonbio degradable in nature In order newlineto protect the environment and human health from heavy metal exposure it is newlineessential to treat the wastewater effectively before disposal by an economical newlinemethod newlineNumerous conventional methods such as chemical precipitation newlinecoagulation solvent extraction ionexchange adsorption and reverse newlineosmosis are available for the removal of heavy metal ions from wastewater newlineHigh capital investment maintenance and the production of secondary wastes newlineare some of the problems in using these conventional methods So it is newlinenecessary to find out suitable alternative methods for the removal of heavy newlinemetal ions Adsorption is one of the methods to effectively treat wastewater newlinecontaining heavy metal ions with lowcost Several lowcost adsorbents have newlinebeen prepared from waste materials including agricultural industrial and newlinemunicipal wastes The usage of lowcost adsorbents from waste materials has newlineseveral advantages of being mainly economical and environmental concern newlineThe aim of the present research is to develop inexpensive and newlineeffective adsorbents from GuazumaUlmifolia seeds an easily available plant newlinematerial as an alternative to the existing commercial adsorbents for the newlineremoval of heavy metal ions from aqueous solution The seeds of this tree newlinecan be utilized as an effective adsorbent in their native and chemically newlinemodified forms for the treatment of aqueous solution containing metal ions newlinelike PbII CuII and NiII newline