Title: Bioremoval of cyanide from aqueous solution using Tectona grandis leaves powder: a potential bioadsorbent

Authors: Naveen Dwivedi; Chandrajit Balomajumder; Prasenjit Mondal

Addresses: Uttarakhand Technical University, Dehradun, Uttarakhand-248007, India; Department of Biotechnology, S.D. College of Engineering and Technology, Muzaffarnagar-251001, UP, India ' Department of Chemical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee, Roorkee-247667, Uttarakhand, India ' Department of Chemical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee, Roorkee-247667, Uttarakhand, India

Abstract: In the present study, Tectona grandis leaves powder has been investigated as a potential bioadsorbent for the removal of cyanide from synthetic wastewater. Effects of significant process parameters on the percentage removal of cyanide are evaluated to get the most suitable operating conditions. Under the optimum conditions; pH 7, contact time 120 min, adsorbent dose 20 g/L; around 86.43% cyanide removal is obtained with the initial cyanide concentration of 100 mg/L. Kinetic evaluation indicates that the adsorption of cyanide ions onto the Tectona grandis leaves powder is best fitted by the pseudo-second order kinetic model. However, it can also be explained by intra-particle diffusion model. The equilibrium assessment illustrates that the Langmuir model is the best fitted model for the experimental data, which attains a maximum adsorption capacity of 18.45 mg/g. Therefore, it seems that the Tectona grandis leaves powder has the potential to be a low-cost bioadsorbent for removal of cyanide from water and wastewater.

Keywords: biosorption; cyanide removal; isotherms; kinetic modelling; Tectona grandis leaves; equilibrium; bioadsorbents; bioremoval; aqueous solutions; leaf powder; synthetic wastewater; adsorption; intra-particle diffusion modelling; Langmuir model.

DOI: 10.1504/IJETM.2016.082234

International Journal of Environmental Technology and Management, 2016 Vol.19 No.3/4, pp.198 - 219

Received: 09 Apr 2015
Accepted: 12 May 2016
Published online: 13 Feb 2017 *

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