A study on the adsorption of heavy metals by using raw wheat bran bioadsorbent in aqueous solution phase

Raw wheat bran (R-WB) was used as a biomass adsorbent. The properties of R-WB were investigated. Moreover, the adsorption of cadmium and lead ions onto R-WB was evaluated. Adsorption equilibrium of cadmium and lead ions onto R-WB was achieved within 10 h, indicating that the adsorption followed a pseudo-second-order model rather than a pseudo-first-order kinetic model. The adsorption amount increased with increasing temperature. Correlation coefficient of the Langmuir equation is 0.999 for cadmium and 0.996 for lead ions, and that of the Freundlich equation is 0.994 for cadmium and 0.993 for lead ions. The negative ΔG value implied that the adsorption of cadmium and lead ions onto R-WB is a spontaneous process. The positive ΔS value indicated an increase in randomness at the solid-liquid interface. The optimal conditions for the adsorption column experiment were investigated (space velocity (SV) 2.2 1/h, linear velocity (LV) 0.1 m/h for cadmium; SV 6.51 1/h, LV 0.23 m/h for lead ions). Further, repeated adsorption-desorption of the cadmium and lead ions could be effected by using 0.01 mol/L HCl or 0.01 mol/L HNO3 solution. Consequently, polluted water could be successfully purified by using a column filled with this bioadsorbent.