Adsorption of copper(II) and nickel(II) ions from aqueous solution using graft copolymer of cellulose extracted from the sisal fiber with acrylic acid monomer

摘要

Certain investigation was done on the removal of heavy metals (Cu~(2+) and Ni~(2+)) from aqueous solution using adsorption process. The prepared cellulose-g-acrylic acid copolymer was used as an adsorbent to remove heavy metal ions from aqueous solutions. The efficiency of the adsorbent was identified from the variation in the adsorption % with contact time, adsorbent dose, and pH. From the observed results, it is evident that the adsorption of metal ions increases with the increase in contact time and metal ion concentration. An optimum pH was found to be 5.0 for both Cu~(2+) and Ni~(2+) onto cellulose-g-acrylic acid. The results of the Langmuir, Freundlich, and pseudo first and second order studies revealed that the adsorption was found to fit well with Freundlich isotherm and follows pseudo second order kinetics. From the results, it was concluded that the graft copolymer was found to be an efficient adsorbent.