Investigating the efficiency of mango leaf powder as a low cost adsorbent to remove lead (II) ion (Pb2+) from industrial waste water.

Abstract

The efficiency of mango leaves as a low-cost adsorbent for the removal of Pb(ll) ions from industrial waste. water at Kampala Pharmaceuticals Industry (KPI) was investigated in this study. The influences of adsorbent load, pH, contact time, initial metal concentration, agitation rate and particle size on a control solution were studied in batch experiments at room temperature. The findings showed that the lead uptake increased with increasing adsorbent load, agitation rate and decreasing particle size. The maximum uptake of Pb(ll) ions was at pH 5, contact time of 2hours and that the Pb(ll) uptake decreased with increasing initial concentration. Parameter values were chosen on basis of efficiency and implied cost. These values yielded an average efficiency of 94.48% when used to adsorb lead from KPI waste water. The economic analysis showed that MLP was more cost effective to treat leaded waste water compared to the commercial Activated Carbon, with MLP being 49 times cheaper than using Activated carbon which cost 2.45 shs. The results showed that mango leaves have the potential to be applied as alternative low-cost biosorbent in the remediation of heavy metal contamination in waste water.