Malaysian Journal of Analytical Sciences Vol 23 No 2 (2019): 219 - 228

REMOVAL OF Pb(II) FROM AQUEOUS SOLUTION BY PINEAPPLE PLANT STEM

(Penyingkiran Pb(II) dari Larutan Akueus Menggunakan Batang Tumbuhan Nanas)

Vivian Loh Zing Ting, Tan Yen Ping*, Abdul Halim Abdullah

Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science,

Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia

*Corresponding author: typ@upm.edu.my

Received: 19 August 2018; Accepted: 25 February 2019

Abstract

The excessive release of lead (Pb) ions into water stream and large production of agricultural wastes cause water and land pollution. Adsorption is useful in eliminating Pb(II) from water environment. The potential use of agricultural waste, pineapple plant stem as adsorbent to reduce the amount of Pb(II) in aqueous solutions was investigated. The material was modified with oxalic acid (OA) to improve the adsorption efficiency of Pb(II). Adsorption isotherms and kinetics were determined for the adsorption of Pb(II) on natural pineapple plant stem (NPPS) and OA modified pineapple plant stem (OAPPS) from aqueous solution in batch studies. The adsorption capacity of Pb(II) on pineapple plant stem depends considerably on the solution pH, in which the amount of Pb(II) adsorbed increased with increasing solution pH, reached its maximal with 14.25 mg/g at pH 5 and 30.47 mg/g at pH 4 for NPPS and OAPPS, respectively. The adsorption performance of the adsorbents was also studied at different initial Pb(II) concentrations (50 – 150 mg/L), it was observed to be less affected at higher initial Pb(II) concentration. The adsorption isotherm was then investigated and the equilibrium data were well fitted with the Langmuir isotherm model with 13.30 and 27.70 mg/g as the calculated maximum capacities for NPPS and OAPPS, respectively. The adsorption of Pb(II) onto NPPS and OAPPS reached equilibrium after 60 minutes at all concentrations studied. The kinetics data were found to follow the pseudo-second order model.

Keywords: adsorption, lead, oxalic acid, pineapple plant stem

Abstrak

Pelepasan ion-ion plumbum (Pb) yang berlebihan ke dalam aliran air dan pengeluaran sisa pertanian yang banyak menyebabkan pencemaran air dan tanah. Penjerapan amat berguna untuk menyingkirkan Pb(II) dari air. Penyelidikan atas penggunaan sisa pertanian, iaitu batang nanas sebagai penjerap untuk mengurangkan Pb(II) dalam larutan akueus telah dijalankan. Tambahan pula, batang nanas telah dimodifikasi dengan asid oksalik untuk meningkatkan kecekapan penjerapan Pb(II). Penjerapan isotherma dan kinetik Pb(II) atas tumbuhan nanas semulajadi (NPPS) dan yang dimodifikasi (OAPPS) daripada larutan akueus dijelaskan melalui kajian kumpulan. Kapasiti penjerapan Pb(II) pada batang tumbuhan nanas sangat bergantung kepada pH, di mana kapasiti penjerapan meningkat dengan peningkatan larutan pH dari 1 hingga 4, mencapai maksimal dengan 14.25 mg/g pada pH 5 untuk NPPS dan 30.47 mg/g pada pH 4 untuk OAPPS. Prestasi jerapan batang nanas juga diuji dengan pelbagai kepekatan ion logam (50 – 150 mg/L), dan diperhatikan memberi kesan yang rendah dengan kepekatan yang lebih tinggi. Data keseimbangan penjerapan didapati bersesuaian dengan model isoterma Langmuir dengan 13.30 mg/g untuk NPPS dan 27.70 mg/g untuk OAPPS sebgai kapasiti maksima yang dikira oleh model. Penjerapan Pb(II) ke NPPS dan OAPPS mencapai keseimbangan selepas 60 minit pada semua kepekatan yang dikaji. Data kinetik didapati mengikuti model kinetik tertib pseudo-kedua.

Kata kunci: penjerapan, plumbum, asid oksalik, batang tumbuhan nanas

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