REMOVAL OF CHROMIUM (VI) FROM AQUEOUS SOLUTION BY Opuntia Ficus - indica BIOMASS

Cr (VI) is a toxic metal, which belongs to the list of priority pollutants due to its mutagenic and carcinogenic properties, defined by the US EPA. Contamination comes from electroplating, leather tanning, textile dyeing and metal finishing industries. Rec ently, a variety of low cost materials has been studied for their ability to removal this metal from aqueous solution with promising results. We studied the removal capacity of Cr (VI) in solution by the Opuntia ficus - indica biomass, using the Diphenylcarb azide method to evaluate the metal concentration. Therefore, the highest biosorption of the metal (50 mg/L) occurs within 30 minutes, at pH 1 .0, and 28 °C. According to temperature, the highest remo val was observed at 60°C, in 9 minutes, when the metal (50 m g/L) is completely adsorbed. At the concentrations of Cr (VI) and biomass analyzed, we observe an excellent re moval capacity, besides, it removal efficiently the metal in situ (100% removal, at 6 and 7 days of incubation, 5 g of biomass , for water and ear th contaminated ), and after of 80 minutes of incubation , the studied biomass reduces 1.0 g of Cr (VI) with the simultaneous production of Cr (III), so it can be used to eliminate it from industrial wastewater.