Biosorption Of Pb(II) and Zn(II) in Synthetic Waste Water By Watermelon RIND (CITRULLUS LANATUS)

Water pollution by heavy metal is great concern due to its toxicity to nature and environment. Extensive studies were carried out to remove heavy metal through physical, chemical and biological approaches. One of the biological approaches is biosorption. This study was conducted under several conditions namely pH, biosorbent dosage, initial wastewater concentration and contact time. Final concentrations of metals were tested using Atomic Absorption Spectrometry (AAS). The results revealed that optimum removal for Lead and Zinc was 77.3% and 90.30%. Optimum pH, for Lead was 6.0 whereas Zinc was 7.0 respectively. Both metals have showed the same optimum biosorbent dosage of 0.02g and 30 minutes of contact times. Meanwhile, the optimum initial metal concentration for Lead and Zinc were 5 ppm and 1ppm. It is proven that watermelon rind is able to treat wastewater with the present of Lead and Zinc.