USE OF PLANT RAW MATERIALS FOR PURIFICATION OF INDUSTRIAL WASTE WATERS FROM COPPER AND IRON IONS

The purification of quarry waters of the mining enterprise ?RMG Copper? (Bolnisi district, Georgia) and Kazretula River from copper and iron ions through the adsorption method is investigated. Plant raw materials (agricultural waste), such as oak bark, corn cobs, grape stalks and damp pine cones etc., have been used as adsorbents. Dependence between the plant raw material adsorption degree and contact time, environment PH of a tested solution, preliminary treatment of the adsorbent is studied. In case of quarry water the best results were shown by the following adsorbents: oak bark, pine cones, corn cobs, the adsorption degree of which comprised: for copper 54,5; 43,0; 38,9%, respectively, while for iron the mentioned figures are as follows: corn cobs ? 70%; pine cones ? 56,6%; Plane tree leaves ? 62,9, and oak bark ? 60%. The similar tests have been conducted during Kazretula River purifying. The oak bark, corn cobs, damp pine cones turned out to be the relatively best adsorbents in the mentioned tests: a purification degree from copper was 60; 56; 48%, while from iron ? 73,2; 59,8; 64%, respectively. We suppose that the abovementioned agricultural waste can be recommended as adsorbents in geochemical (sorption) barriers approved in the world practice, which represent the complex of protective measures and constructions creating obstacles on the way of heavy metal ions migration.