A Study On Utilization of Groundnut Shell as Biosorbent for Heavy Metals Removal

Heavy metals are toxic and harmful water pollutant. Their presence not only affects the human being but also affects the animals and vegetation because of their versatility in aqueous ecosystem. Biosorption process has attracted attention of many researchers because low cost, design flexibility and efficiency.The main objective is to study the effectiveness of groundnut shell as biosorbent for lead and copper removal from the wastewater for batch adsorption study. An investigation was carried out to identify the effect of pH, contact time and dosage for the same sieve size of ground shell at standard temperature condition. Biosorption parameters were determined using both Langmuir and Freundlich isotherms, but the experimental data were better fitted to the Langmuir equation than to Freundlich equation. Results showed that the maximum removal efficiency of lead and copper 68.2% and 77.8% respectively.