Ecology, Environment and Conservation Paper

UTILIZATION OF AGRICULTURE WASTE FOR REMOVAL OF HEAVY METAL IONS THROUGH BIOSORPTION

Ahmad Ashfaq and Aatika Saadia

Abstract

The contamination of water due to toxic heavy metal ions is accountable for causing several damages to the environment and adverse effects on health of the people; as these are non-biodegradable and get accumulated in living tissues, thus becoming concentrated throughout the food chain. Utilization of one waste material to control pollution caused by another is of high significance in the remediation of environmental problems. Rice husk, an abundantly available agricultural waste, can be used as a low cost adsorbent for the removal of dyes and heavy metals from effluent streams. Conventional technologies for the removal/ remediation of toxic metal ions from wastewaters are proving expensive due to non-regenerable materials used and high costs. Biosorption is emerging as a technique offering the use of economical alternate biological materials for the purpose. This paper presents the use of rice husk to exhibit different affinities toward different metals and hence its importance to be employed as an effective biosorbent material.