Removal of Heavy Metal Ions from Aqueous Solutions by Adsorption Using Modified Orange Peel as Adsorbent

Abstract

In this study, orange peel (OP) was modified by KCl to prepare a novel orange peel adsorbent named as KOP. The adsorption behaviors of KOP for five heavy metals (Cu 2+ , Cd 2+ , Pb 2+ , Zn 2+ , Ni 2+ ) were studied. The effects of pH, adsorption time and metal ion concentration on single heavy metal solution adsorption by KOP were investigated. All adsorption processes can attain equilibrium with 20min and kinetics data of five heavy metal ions were fitted to pseudo-second-equation; the maximum adsorption capacities for Cu 2+ , Cd 2+ , Pb 2+ , Zn 2+ and Ni 2+ were calculated as 59.77, 125.63, 141.84, 45.29 and 49.14 mg/g, respectively. Recycle and reuse experiments indicate that KOP could be used for more than 10 cycles. The effect of coexist metal ions on adsorption can be neglected.