A STUDY OF THE REMOVAL OF Pb, Cd, AND Cr HEAVY METALS FROM AQUEOUS SOLUTIONS BY MORINGA OLIEFERA SEEDS IN COMPARISON TO CARBONIZED MORINGA OLIEFERA SEED.

Abstract

Moringa oleifera is an abundant and economically important plant that is used for many purposes, and is a potential resource in many ways; charcoal production is one of them. The uptake for lead, chromium, and cadmium from aqueous solution using the Moringa oleifera seeds biomass (MOS) and Moringa oleifera seed charcoal (CMOS) was studied. CMOS was prepared from MOS in order to make better use of this biomass material. Batch experiments were conducted under varying MOS/CMOS adsorbent dosages (0.5-1.5g), contact time (30min–6hr) and metal ion concentrations (1-50ppm) for chromium, lead and cadmium. The data for MOS fit well with Langmuir isotherm model for lead (maximum metal uptake (Qm) = 1.281mg/g) and Cadmium (maximum metal uptake (Qm) = 0.168mg/g) whereas CMOS can be modelled by both Freundlich and Langmuir isotherms for chromium (adsorption capacity = 0.2202 mg/g) and Lead (maximum metal uptake (Qm) = 0.552mg/g) respectively. However, the biomass of MOS was found to be more suitable than CMOS for the development of an efficient adsorbent for the removal of chromium, lead and cadmium from aqueous solutions. This study demonstrated that both the charcoal biomass could be used as adsorbents for the treatment of Cr, Pb and Cd from aqueous solution.