Study of various parameters in the biosorption of heavy metals on activated sludge

Addagalla Venkata AjayKumar, Naif A Darwish, Nidal Hilal

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Heavy metal pollution has become one of the most serious environmental problems today. Billions of gallons of wastewaters containing oils and particulates are produced each year by metallurgical plants, ships, petroleum and gas operations, industrial washing operations and other processes. Unfortunately, water systems have long tended to be one of the neglected areas of the process plant. However, this situation is changing rapidly as environmental legislation tightens. An investigation has been undertaken to determine the removal of heavy metals (Cd, Cu, Ni and Zn) of high environmental priority due to their toxicity, from dilute 2+ 2+ 2+ 2+ aqueous solutions studied in the present work by biosorption using inexpensive biomaterials like activated sludge. Activated sludge is used widely in water treatment plants and is easily available. To understand the action of bio metals uptake, the essential role played by extra cellular polymeric substance (EPS) needs to be understood. Factors influencing the biosorption of the heavy metals are cleaning of the sludge, pH, initial metal ion concentration, weight of the adsorbent, mixing index, time and temperature. The adsorption parameters were determined using both Langmuir and Freundlich isotherm models and showed a better fitting of experimental data.
Original languageEnglish (US)
JournalWorld Applied Sciences Journal
Volume5
Issue number5
StatePublished - 2009

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