Efficacy of Mangrove (Rhizophora Mucronata) Roots Powder in Adsorption of Lead (II) Ions from Aqueous Solutions: Equilibrium and Kinetics Studies

Abstract

The removal of Pb (II) ions by adsorption onto mangrove roots adsorbent was investigated in this present paper. The removal of lead ions from aqueous solutions was investigated in batch mode which involved the study of the effects of initial pH, temperature, initial concentration of the lead ion, adsorbent dosage and contact time on lead ions removal. Adsorption was found to increase with increase in temperature, contact time adsorbent dose and pH. The adsorption data was well described by both the Freundlich and Langmuir isotherm models. The adsorption capacity (Qmax) from the Langmuir isotherm for Pb (II) was found to be 13.698 mg/g. Pseudo-second order kinetic model was found suitable for describing the kinetics of the adsorption process. These results indicated that mangrove roots can be used as low cost adsorbent for the removal of lead ions from aqueous solutions.