Fixed bed column operations for the biosorption of Cu (II) from synthetic and electroplating wastewater using Syzygium cumini leaves powder

Low cost biosorbents have demonstrated outstanding removal capabilities of various metal ions. The present work has helped in identifying unreported, new, readily available low cost adsorbent, Syzygium cumini leaves powder for the biosorption of Cu (II) from ynthetic and electroplating wastewater, using column studies. The experiments were conducted to study the effect of parameters viz., bed height (11.0, 17.0 and 21.0 cm), flow rate (2.0, 3.5 and 5.0 ml min 1) and initial metal ion concentration (50, 100, 150 mg L-1).The percentage removal was maximum (75.90%) when bed height of 21.0 cm was used with flow rate of 2.0 mL min-1 and 100 mgL-1 initial metal ion concentration. The bed depth service time model (BDST) was applied to the experimental data and the adsorption capacity (N ) obtained was 247.36 mg g 1. o In optimized conditions the electroplating effluent was treated with bed height 21.0 cm and flow rate 2.0 mL min-1. The efficiency and the metal uptake capacity was maximum (73.86%) in the first cycle and was found to decrease in the successive cycles due to gradual deterioration of biosorbent because of regeneration and continuous usage.The column was regenerated by eluting Cu (II) using 0.5 N NaOH after each biosorption cycle.