Removal of lead ions from industrial waste water by different types of natural materials.

The adsorption capacity of some natural materials for lead such as animal bone powder, active carbon, Nile rose plant powder, commercial carbon and ceramics was studied. The V/m ratio has been chosen to be 500 ml/g. The adsorption process was affected by various parameters such as contact time, pH and concentration of lead solution. The lead uptake percent reaches equilibrium state after 15, 30, 45 and 120 min for bone powder, active carbon, plant powder and commercial carbon, respectively. The uptake percent of lead increased by increasing pH value. The sequence of lead uptake percent (% adsorption) at constant pH from certain concentration of lead nitrate solution by the different natural materials is in the order: bone powder > active carbon > plant powder > commercial carbon. The uptake percent of lead is increased by decreasing the concentration of lead at constant pH. The capacity of lead adsorbed from nitrate solution by the different natural materials increased by increasing pH value. The synthetic and industrial waste-water samples were treated by using the different natural materials (contact time 3h, pH = 4). The percent removal of lead was 100% by bone powder, 90% by active carbon, 80% by plant powder and 50% by commercial carbon. There was no removal of lead by ceramics. This may be due to the presence of high percent of lead in the constituent of ceramics (372 mg/g). Copyright 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd.