Ecology, Environment and Conservation Paper

A REVIEW ON ADSORPTIVE REMOVAL OF HEAVY METAL (CU, CD) FROM AQUEOUS SOLUTION USING LOW COST ADSORBENT

A. K. Dwivedi and Dinesh Pratap Singh Rajput

Abstract

Heavy metals cause serious environmental problems. For the removal of heavy metals from effluent waste streams the adsorption process with various commercial adsorbent is being widely used. Such adsorbent remains an expensive material; the use of alternative and perhaps cheaper adsorbents is attractive. The use of agricultural wastes has been widely investigated as a replacement for the current costly methods of removing heavy metals from water and wastewater. It is well known that cellulosic waste materials can be obtained and employed as cheap adsorbents and their performance to remove heavy metals can be compared with chemical treatment. Agricultural waste materials are economic and eco-friendly because they are available in abundance, renewable, non toxic, low in cost, and some of them can be regenerated and reused. To provide an effective and economically viable treatment, the appropriate choice of the biomass and the proper operational conditions have to be identified. This paper presents the removal efficiencies of heavy metals from aqueous solutions by different agricultural waste materials.