Removal of Heavy Metals from Aqueous Solutions Using Acrylic-modified Sugarcane Bagasse-based Adsorbents: Equilibrium and Kinetic Studies

Recently, more and more attention has been centered on developing cheaper, highly efficient, environmentally friendly adsorbents for the removal of metal ions from industrial effluents. The present work deals with the removal of metal ions from an aqueous solution using a highly efficient, biodegradable adsorbent from hydrogel prepared by the free radical graft polymerization of sugarcane bagasse with acrylic acid and acrylamide using N, N-methylene-bis-acrylamide as a crosslinker. FTIR and SEM/EDX spectroscopies were used to characterize the structure and the morphology of adsorbent before and after the metal ions adsorption. The effects of pH, contact time, and initial concentration of metal ion on the adsorption capacity were studied. The adsorption equilibrium time of Pb2+, Cd2+, and Cu2+ were 60, 90, and 180 min, respectively. The maximum adsorption capacities of Cu2+, Pb2+, and Cd2+ were 268, 700, and 320 mg/g, respectively. The adsorption data were fit to often-used models for adsorption kinetics and isotherms. It was determined that the experimental results were well fitted to the pseudo-second-order equation and Langmuir adsorption isotherms.