Assessment of Effectiveness of Watermelon Rinds on Removing Copper (II) Ions from Synthesized Wastewater
This paper presents results on the investigation of Copper II ions (Cu2+) removal from synthesized wastewater using watermelon rinds, under laboratory scale batch experiments. The effects of pH, contact time, particle size and dosage of the adsorbent on the adsorption of Cu (II) were studied. The concentration of Copper in wastewater was determined by using Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer (AAS). Results show that the removal mechanism was dominantly adsorption, which is dependent of the physical and chemical characteristics of the adsorbent material. The chemical composition of the adsorbent was analyzed by AAS and was found to compose mainly of essentially nutrients for plant growth and phenolic compounds. The zero point of charge of the watermelon rinds was obtained at a pH of 5.9, optimum pH was 7.9, optimum dosage of watermelon rinds was 0.2 g/50 ml (with an initial Copper concentration of 15.72 mg/l) and the optimum contact time was approximately 120 minutes. The final concentration of Copper at optimum conditions was 0.115 mg/l, which is lower than the recommended limits for municipal and industrial wastewaters of 2.0 mg/l. Adsorption equilibrium was better described by the Freundlich model (0.929) than the Langmuir isotherm model (0.87).
Adsorption, Batch, Watermelon Rinds, Wastewater, Copper
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