Removal of Cd²⁺, Cu²⁺, Ni²⁺, and Pb²⁺ ions from aqueous solutions using tururi fibers as an adsorbent

Abstract

ABSTRACT This work investigates the removal of Cd 2+ , Cu 2+ , Ni 2+ , and Pb 2+ ions from aqueous solutions using tururi fibers as an adsorbent under both batchwise and fixed‐bed conditions. It was found that modification of the tururi fibers with sodium hydroxide increased the adsorption efficiencies of all metal ions studied. The fractional factorial design showed that pH, adsorbent mass, agitation rate, and initial metal concentration influenced each metal adsorption differently. The kinetics showed that multi‐element adsorption equilibria were reached after 15 min following pseudo‐second‐order kinetics. The Langmuir, Freundlich, and Redlich–Peterson models were used to evaluate the adsorption capacities by tururi fibers. The Langmuir model was found to be suitable for all metal ions. Breakthrough curves revealed that saturation of the bed was reached in 160.0 mL with Cd 2+ and Cu 2+ , and 52.0 mL with Ni 2+ and Pb 2+ . The Thomas model was applied to the experimental data of breakthrough curves and represented the data well. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2014 , 131 , 40883.