Sorption of Cu2+ and Zn2+ by natural biomaterial: duck feather

Feather fibers were modified by treatment with 5% tannic acid (TA) solution. Kinetics of the modification was investigated as a function of the reaction time. The maximum loading of TA on feather reached 8.3% after being treated by TA for 9 h. The adsorption of metal cations (Cu2+, Zn2+) by unmodified and TA-modified feather fibers was investigated as a function of fiber weight gain, temperature, and pH of the metal solution. The adsorption was enhanced at alkaline pH and ambient temperature and increased with the weight gain of TA. The maximum uptake of metal cations (Cu2+, 0.77 mmol/g; Zn2+, 0.95 mmol/g) was obtained by TA-modified feather at weight gain: 8.3%, pH 11, while at the acidic pH, the adsorption of metal cations by either unmodified or TA-modified feather was negligible. The influence of anions on the adsorption of metal cations was also studied. The uptake of Cu2+ from chloride was higher and faster than that from nitrate. Desorption of the metals was performed at acidic pH 2.5 for 48 h. The feather-TA-metal complexes exhibited higher stability for metal cations than the feather-metal complexes. All these experiments reveal that TA-modified feather fibers have good adsorption to metal cations and can be used as metal adsorbent in wastewater treatment.