Equilibrium
Sorption Study of Al3+, Co2+ and Ag+ in Aqueous
Solutions by Fluted Pumpkin
(Telfairia Occidentalis HOOK f) Waste Biomass
Michael
Horsfall Jnr* and Ayebaemi I.
Spiff
Department of Pure and
Industrial Chemistry, University of Port Harcourt, Uniport P. O. Box 402, Choba,
Port Harcourt, Nigeria, E-mail: horsfalljnr@yahoo.com
Abstract
An ensemble of
equilibrium sorption techniques was combined to study the influence
of ionic radius on the sorption characteristics of Al3+, Co2+
and Ag+ by fluted pumpkin waste biomass. The experimental results were analyzed in terms of five
two-parameter adsorption isotherm equations - the Langmuir, Freundlich, Temkin,
Dubinin-Radushkevich and Flory-Huggins isotherms.
According to the evaluation using Langmuir equation, the monolayer sorption
capacity obtained was 16.98 mg/g, 10.34 mg/g and 8.03 mg/g for Al3+,
Co2+ and Ag+ respectively. The
data further showed that, the Freundlich and Langmuir isotherms described
the data appropriable than Temkin, Dubinin-Radushkevich and Flory-Huggins
isotherms. The result showed that fluted pumpkin waste could be used for the
removal of Al3+, Co2+ and Ag+ from wastewater
and ionic radius influence the rate of metal ion migration to the biomass
surface and the adsorption intensity of the metal.
Key words: Equilibrium sorption, Flory-Huggins isotherm, fluted pumpkin, wastewater treatment, process biotechnology