Biosorption of Heavy Metal Ions from Aqueous Solutions Using a Biomaterial

An increase in population initiating rapid industrialization was found to consequently increase the effluents and domestic wastewater into the aquatic ecosystem. Heavy metals are major toxicants found in industrial wastewaters; they may adversely affect the biological treatment of wastewater. Conventional methods for the removal of heavy metals from waste waters are often cost prohibitive hence, there is a need for cheap methods for effluent treatment. The residual metallic ion concentrations were determined using an Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer (AAS). The results obtained after contacting for 120 minutes showed that Neem leaves achieved the percent removal of 76.8, 67.5, 58.4 and 41.45 for Cu2+, Ni2+, Zn2+ and Pb2+ ions respectively. The percent removal of Ni2+ ions was 68.75 with an effective dose of 1.0 g of Neem leaves (bioadsorbent). The ability of Neem leaves to absorb metal ions as shown from the results can be used for the development of an efficient, clean and cheap technology for effluent treatment.