Use of banana peels as an adsorbent in removal of copper from waste water

Abstract

Environmental pollution by toxic heavy metal contamination due to rapid industrialization is a challenging problem for maintaining the quality and hygiene of water. The discharges of industrial effluents into aquatic environment cause a threat to the aquatic life as well as human health, which is of great concern due to their toxic nature and adverse effect. Techniques used to remove heavy metals are namely physical, chemical and biological treatment. Bio-sorption is a recent eco-friendly technique which has gained importance in this decade. The process of bio-sorption has many attractive features compared to the conventional methods. This research investigates the successful use of eco-friendly adsorbents banana peels. Banana peel which is a discarded fruit waste were used to prepare environmentally friendly biosorbent for the adsorption of copper from aqueous solution. Two different species of banana peels were used i.e. Musa acuminata and Musa cultivars. The banana peels were washed, dried, and ground, before being used in the treatment of wastewater. The efficiency of removal of copper was investigated under different process conditions e.g. pH, initial metal ion concentration and adsorbent dosage using the batch adsorption methodology and it was found out that that the maximum removal efficiency of copper using the two types of peels are 80% and 85% for Musa cultivars and Musa acuminata respectively.