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Chemically Modified Crop Residues as a Low-Cost Technique for the Removal of Heavy Metal Ions from Wastewater

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Abstract

Batch adsorption experiments were carried out to evaluate the effect of type of crop residues and chemical pretreatment solutions on the removal efficiency of heavy metal ions at different concentrations of synthetic wastewater solutions. Rice straw, cotton stalks, and maize stalks were pretreated with different solutions (i.e., sulfuric acid, oxalic acid, sodium hydroxide, and distilled water as the control treatment) in order to increase their metal-binding capacity. Results indicated that cotton stalks were the best biosorbent material according to their efficiency in removal of heavy metal ions. Sodium hydroxide was the best chemical pretreatment method for stimulating the biosorption capacity of crop residues. Ions of Pb2+ had the highest biosorption ratio among all competitive ions, whereas Mn2+ ions had the lowest. The removal efficiency decreased as the concentration of heavy metal ions increased in aqueous solutions. Sorption equilibrium isotherms could be described by the Langmuir model in most cases, whereas an isotherm of S shape was observed in other cases, which did not follow the Langmuir isotherm model. In conclusion, cotton stalks pretreated with sodium hydroxide could be used as an efficient technique for wastewater remediation prior to irrigation due to its low-cost, little processing, and high biosorption capacity.

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Acknowledgments

Authors would like to acknowledge both of the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) and the Egyptian Ministry of Higher Education represented in Science and Technology for Development Fund (STDF) for the financial support. Authors also would like to acknowledge Mrs. Petra Grossman and all other technicians in the Institute of Soil Science and Forest Nutrition, Freiburg University, Germany for their help and support.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Soils Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Mansoura University, Mansoura, Egypt

    Ahmed Ali Mosa & Ayman El-Ghamry

  2. Institute of Soil Science and Forest Nutrition, Freiburg University, Freiburg, Germany

    Peter Trüby

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  1. Ahmed Ali Mosa
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  2. Ayman El-Ghamry
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  3. Peter Trüby
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Correspondence to Ahmed Ali Mosa.

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Mosa, A.A., El-Ghamry, A. & Trüby, P. Chemically Modified Crop Residues as a Low-Cost Technique for the Removal of Heavy Metal Ions from Wastewater. Water Air Soil Pollut 217, 637–647 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11270-010-0616-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11270-010-0616-5

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