Potential use of bagasse pith for the treatment of wastewater containing metals

Bagasse pith was tested for its ability to remove cadmium and lead ions from aqueous solutions under two modes of operation, i.e. in batch systems and continuous flow systems. Time dependency experiments showed a very rapid adsorption of these cations by bagasse pith. Thus, 62% of cadmium ions and 84% of lead ions were taken up by the bagasse pith at pH 6 and ca. 99% of each cation was recovered by treatment of the pith with 0.1 M HCl. The breakthrough capacity, Q(0.5), the number of theoretical plates and the theoretical plate height were calculated. The capacity of bagasse pith was found to be 6.2 and 8.5 mequiv./g for cadmium and lead ions, respectively. The feasibility of using bagasse pith for cadmium and lead ion removal from wastewater streams was addressed.