Adsorption of cadmium from water by wasted biosolids

• Main Authors: Al-Mamun, Abdullah, Alam, Md. Zahangir, Amid, Azura, Baharudin, Norhafizah Hanim
• Format: Conference or Workshop Item
• Language: English; English
• Published: 2013
• Subjects: TD169 Environmental protection
• Online Access: http://irep.iium.edu.my/34937/5/GCET_2013_Schedule.pdf; http://irep.iium.edu.my/34937/1/Full_Paper_ID_22_GCET.pdf; http://irep.iium.edu.my/34937/

Cadmium is one of the toxic heavy metals, frequently used in various industries but difficult to remove from aqueous solution by sorption or precipitation process. Its removal from water is very important, as its presence, even in low concentration (compared to many other metals) can cause harm to the living being. The removal of toxic heavy metals such as cadmium from aqueous environment has received considerable attention in recent years due to their toxicity and carcinogenicity which may cause damage to various systems of the human body. High exposure to cadmium also affect aquatic organism such as fish and shellfish. Therefore, the cadmium level should be reduced to provide a safe environment not only for people but also for other organisms. Many methods can be applied in order to remove cadmium. The adsorption of cadmium ions from aqueous solution, using wasted biosolids, was attempted as a green technology. The wasted biosolids contained dead fungal biomass, Phanerochaete chrysosporium. The adsorption of cadmium onto the biosolid wastes was evaluated by varying three process parameter. The parameters were biomass dose (mg/L), contact time (min), and agitation speed (rpm). Central Composite Design in DESIGN EXPERT® software had been chosen to investigate the relationship between the parameters. From this experiment, the highest removal percentage of cadmium was 71.75% with agitation speed of 150 rpm within 60 minutes using 750 mg/L biomass dose. The data obtained from the batch mode adsorption experiment was used for ANOVA and for the development of regression model equation that represents the optimum operating condition.