Ni(II) REMOVAL BY BIOSORPTION USING FICUS RELIGIOSA (PEEPAL) LEAVES

The pollutant binding capacity of acid treated Ficus Religiosa (Peepal) leaves was investigated in a batch system under varying conditions. The results indicate that sorption equihbrium was established in about 60 minutes with equilibrium capacity of 6.35 ± 0.54mg/g. The Ni(II) sorption is highly dependent on pH and maximum removal was observed at pH 7 above which metal started to precipitate. It was also observed that sorption of Ni(II) decreases with increase in temperature. The experimental results were analyzed in terms of Langmuir and Freundlich isotherms. The Freundlich isotherm model fitted well to data with 0.94 regression co-efficient (R2). Evaluation of experimental data in terms of biosorption kinetics showed that the biosorption of nickel (II) on biomass followed pseudo-second order kinetics. The results showed that biosorbent is an attractive low cost altemative for the treatment of wastewaters containing lower concentrations of Nickel.