Abstract

The design of bio-adsorbents of heavy metals from waste of the banana production chain is the answer to the problem of toxic waste generated by companies that become a high source of contamination and put human health at risk; so it is necessary to look for alternatives to end this type of contamination. This way, heavy metal adsorbents were prepared using as a starting material Musa paradisiaca husks from waste from the plantain production chain in Quindío; the removal capacity of these metals was evaluated through a phenol-formaldehyde polycondensation process in acid medium at different concentrations, in order to obtain low cost and highly efficient adsorbents for the treatment of wastewater contaminated with heavy metals. The resulting adsorbents showed a high effectiveness (>80%) in the removal of Cu (II) and Cr (III) ions from diluted aqueous solutions at different concentrations, attributable to their porous structure and the presence of phenolic groups on their surface. The adsorption isotherms of the Cu (II) and Cr (III) ions for the prepared adsorbents were satisfactorily adjusted by the Freundlich model. In addition, it was found that the adsorbents have a greater capacity to retain the Cu (II) ion than the Cr (III) ion. Therefore, it can be observed through the results obtained that the plant material used is a viable alternative for water decontamination.

Keywords:

Colloidal aggregation, fractal dimension, protein adsorption, static and dynamic light scattering,

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Competing interests

The authors have no competing interests.

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The authors have no competing interests.