Oxidized Vegetable Sponge (Luffacylindrica) as a Reusable Novel Heavy Metal Ions Adsorbent

The use of biomass as an adsorbent material is of great importance in the fields of water treatment, in fact the great abundance of luffa sponge on the earth, makes recourse to the industrialists to their exploitation because of the low cost, high abundance, easy availability and high adsorption capacity of the vegetable sponge (Luffa cylindrica). The ensuing luffa sponge, in the form of a rigid porous material, was characterized by FTIR and NMR and used as an adsorbent for the removal of heavy metals from aqueous solutions. It showed an efcient adsorption, exceeding 96 % toward Pb2+, Cd2+, Zn2+, Cu2+, Hg2+ and Ni2+ when their concentration was lower than 10 ppm and ranged from 90 % to 60 % for a metal concentration higher than10 ppm. Over 98 % of the adsorbed metal ion was recovered using EDTA as a desorbing solution, and the subsequent washing allowed the luffa sponge to be reused repeatedly without noticeable loss of adsorption capacity. It was concluded that the Luffa sponge oxidized may be used as a high capacity and reusable sorbent material in heavy-metal removing processes.