Articles

In dia n Jo urnal o f C hemi cal Tec hno logy

Vol. 9. November 2002. pp. 540-542

Removal of trace metals with mango seed powder

Dimpl e C Parekha. Ji gnesh B Patel ", Padmaja Sudhakar'" & V J Kos hy'"
"De partment o f Appli ed C hemi stry. Faculty of Technology & Eng ineerin g. The Maharaja Sayajirao Uni versity of Baroda.
Kalabha va n. Vadodara 390 00 I. India
"Resea rch Cen tre. Indian Petroche mica ls Corporati o n Limited. Baroda, 391 346. Indi a
Received 10 Ocrober 2000; revised recei1 ed 17 September 2002; accepted 30 September 2002

Removal of heavy metals like Cu, Cd, Pb from aqueous solution was studied using mango seeds powder. Study
was carried out in batch technique as a function of contact time, metal ion concentration and pH of the solution. The
sorption process follows Freundlich sorption isotherm. Maximum sorption was observed at acidic pH itself. The
method is applied to various synthetic solutions.

Metalli c e le me nts are an intrinsic component of the
e nvironment, and a variety of natural processes are
res ponsible for the ir widespread occurre nce at trace
le ve ls in vari o us parts of biosphere. Major
con taminati o n of e nvironme nt, however, arises from
man' s activities aimed at improving the standard of
li ving thro ugh process in g of ores and uses of a variety
of meta ls a nd the ir components in manufacturing
processes . Their di scharge in gaseous, liquid and so lid
fo rm s ha ve now been id e ntifi ed as respo nsibl e for
vari o us occupati o na l and cognate di seases.
Co nve nti o nal treatment methods e mpl oy ing re verse
os mos is, activated carbon, filtrati o n, etc . for re moval
of heavy meta ls from waste water are no t cost-
effective in th e Indian contex t. Adsorption methods
using activated carbon are not economi ca l either,
because the raw material s for the preparation of
1
activated carbon s are not cheap Effective and
econom ical removal of tox ic io ns and dyes from
indu stri a l waste water has resulted in a sea rch for low-
cost no n-conventi o nal methods and mate rials: bi ogas
res idual slurri .l, banana pith 4 , o range peel5 , peanut
hull carbon 6 , waste Fe(III)/Cr(lll) hydroxide 78 ,
modifi ed pinus pinoster bark 9 and peat 10 . Activated
carbon s produced from tamarind nutshe ll and li g nin
11
and li g nite find use in the removal of phosphate and
12
dyes respective ly. Pea nut hull carbon has been
recently used as an effectiv e adsorbent for the
14 15
re moval of Hg( ll )6 , Cd(II) 13 , Ni(II) , Pb(II) and
1
C u(ll) (l. The present endeavour has been contributed
to the utili zati o n of the relatively co mmon , cheap and
*For correspondence (E- mail: p_ padmaja200I @yahoo.com;
vjk_ 30 11 50@yahoo.com)
thrown away waste man go seeds as adsorbent fo r the
re mova l of Cu , Cd and Pb from aq ueo us and sy nth e tic
so lutions.
Experimental Procedure
Preparation of mango seeds powder
The ripe seeds o f alph o nso vari ety of mango seeds
we re co ll ected a nd slit o pen , and ke rne ls we re
re moved . The seeds obtai ned we re dri ed for 24 h in
sunli g ht a nd powdered to mes h s ize 30-60. The
mo isture co nte nt o f the ma ngo seeds powder was
found to be 6.4%. Th e res ultant powde r was used fo r
th e study o f re mo val of heavy metal s lik e C u, Cd and
Pb. The reage nts used for th e a nal ysis were o f
Analytical Reage nt Grade.
Sorption studies
Typical treatm ent consisted of shakin g I g o f
mango seed powder and 25 mL of adsorbate so luti o n
containing 50 ].lg/mL of metal io n (C u. Cd o r Pb as
th e case may be) in plastic bottles at 200 rpm usin g a
mechani ca l shaker. Th e ad so rbate was separated from
the adsorbent by centrifugation and th e supe rn atan t
analysed .
Analyses
The re moval of metal ion was determin ed by
Polarographic analyzer model PARC 384B consistin g
of static mercury drop (SMDE) as working e lectrode,
calomel as refere nce electrode and Pt wire as counte r
electrode. Medium size merc ury d rop was used . Sin ce
the mode l offers high sig nal to noi ::e rat io and auto-
ranging current meas urement capability , square wave
was used for analysis. From the supernatant 9 mL was
Parekh eta/.: Remova l of trace metals with mango seed powder Articles

pipetted into a glass electro chemical cell followed by
I mL of I M buffer soluti on (NaAc-Ac) and then
vo ltammogram was run . Peak current and peak
potenti al were noted from the vo ltammogram. Thi s
was done for both soluti ons taken out after I and 2 h
and al so for a control (so luti on containing 50 p g/mL
of metal ion in which mango seed powder was not
added).
adsorption of indi vidual metal ion is obtained durin g
30 min to I h, after whi ch it decreases.
The adsorption of metals by mango seed powder
correlates with Freundli ch adso rpti on isotherm. The
Freundli ch equati on is given as:
x = xlll (K.C.)"
= Kt C''

Results and Discussion where

Data co ntained in Table I show th at for Cd
adsorpt ion is not much pH dependent in the range 2-8 .
In th e case of Cu and Pb, Cu(OH h and Pb(OH h were
getti ng precipitated in th e alkaline co nditi ons; so
adsorpt ion was done at ac idic pH. Further studies
we re clone for all the three meta ls at normal pH using
acetate buffer (p H 4.5). The res ults presented in Tabl e
2 revea l that th e adsorption process with mango seed
powde r is hi gh ly depend ent on co ncentration of
so luti on. Thi s is becau se at lower concentration of
adso rbate the ratio of adso rbate to adso rbent is low,
subsequentl y the fractional adsorpti on becomes
independent of initial concen tration. However at
hi gher co nce ntrati on, th e avai lab le sites of adsorption
become fewer. and hence the percentage removal of
trace metal is dependent upon th e initial
concentration. From the data where experiments were
done at I and 2 h, it is see n that subseq uent to
maximum adsorption if th e solu tion is kept in contact
with mango seed powder, the metal ions show a
tendency to return back in to the sol uti on. This is
furth er justified by results in Table 3 where maximum
1
K = Xm K"
X = Am ount of metal ion s adso rbed at equilibrium
concentrati on C
X," Maximum amount of meta l ions adsorbed
K Constant
which is frequent ly used for th e interpretation of
adso rpti on from solu tion beca use of it s simpli city.
Analysis of synthetic samples
Synthetic sampl es co ntaining (C u, Cd and Pb) Cu-
Pb, Cu-Cci, Cd-Pb and Cu-Cd-Pb where th e indi vidual
ionic concentration was 50 p g/mL were prepared and
their adsorption behaviour in vest igated. The results
are summari sed in Table 4 which clearl y demonstrat e
the potential of the method for the removal of Cu. Ccl
and Pb indi viduall y and in mixtures from various
waste waters and indu strial efflu ents. Studi es ha ve
also been done to rege nerate th e mango seed powder
usin g various acids ( I M HCI/HNOo/ H 2 SO~). It has
been found that 25 mL of I M HCI soluti on was
suitable to regenerate I g of mango seed powder

Table !- Adsorpt ion o f Ccl at different pH Table 3-Effect of time on th e amount of metal ion removed
pH % Adsor~t i o n Cone . % removal
lh 2h I min 30 min lh 2h 4h
2 99.34 99.0 1 1000 p g/mL
4 99 .68 99 .36 ' Pb' 85.89 87 .3 1 87.70 86. 82 86.82
6 99.45 99.30 1000 p g/mL
8 99.46 99.32 'Cu' 87 .45 88.23 88.28 87 .96 8790

Table 2- - Aclsorpt ion study of Cd, Cu and Pb

Co ne. Ccl solution Cu soluti on Pb solutio n
pg/mL % removal Hi ghest% removal % removal Highest% removal % removal Hi ghest % re moval
lh 2h lh 2h lh 2h
10 99.15 99.60 99.60 100 100 100 92.7 1 100 100
20 99.64 99.58 99.64 93 .74 93.72 93.74 91. 16 92.62 92 .62
50 99.49 99.45 99.49 88.67 88.76 88.76 92.40 90.38 92.40
100 99. 12 99.30 99. 30 84.75 85.44 85.44 92.3 1 94.79 94.79
500 96.44 91.55 96.44 85.71 85. 59 85.7 1 87.93 86.98 87.93
1000 93 .20 96.76 96.76 88.28 87.96 88.28 87.70 87.3 1 87.76

541
A rticles Indi an J. Chem. Techno!. , Nove mber 2002

Tab le 4-S tudy of sy ntheti c so lution References

Weber W J & Smith G H. in Chemisrn- .filr Prorecrion o f'
Sy nt he ti c % removal
En vironmenr . edited by Pawloski L (Else vier. UK). 1986.
~o l uti o n Cu Cd Pb
471.
I h 2h I h 2h lh 2h
2 Na masivaya m C & Yamuna R T . Wa re r A ir So il Po/1111. 65
Cu+Cd+Pb 89.50 90.05 98 .1 0 97.90 94.45 97.67 ( 1992) I 0 1.
Cu + Pb 90. 7'}, 90.60 90.00 90.60 3 Namasivaya m C & Yamuna R T. Chclnlisphere. 30 ( 19lJ4 )
Cu +Cd 88 .94 88 .93 97 .68 97.55 56 1.
Cd + Pb 97. 55 96.98 88 .44 92.77 4 Namasivaya m C. Kanchana N & Yamun a R T. Wa s1e
M anage. 13 ( 1993) 89.
5 Namasivayam C. Muniasa my N. Gay~t11 11 i K. Ra ni M &
conta tmng I 0 pg/mL of C u/C d/Pb (rege ne rati o n was Ranganath an K. Bio rc.l ol!rce Techno/ . 57 ( 19lJ6 ) 37.
g reater th an 90 %) and the po wder co uld be re used 6 Namasivayam C & Peri asamy K. Wa rcr R,s. 27 ( Jl)l)3) 1663 .
aga in after was hin g w ith water se ve ra l times. 7 Na mas ivaya m C & Senth il kum ar S. Ads Sci Techno/. ( 19lJ5 )
293.
Conclusion 8 Na masivaya m C & Senthi lkum ar S, Che1J1o.1phere. 34 ( 1997)
T he prese nt stud y shows that man go seed powder is 357.
an effecti ve adsorbent fo r heavy meta ls. Th e stu dy o n 9 Vazqu ez G. An torre na G. Gonzalez J & Dova l M D.
Bioreso11rce Techn o /, 48 ( J9l)4) 25 1.
sy nth eti c so luti o ns sho ws that ma ngo seed po wde r
10 Virarag havan T & Mihial D J. Freseni11s En1 imn R111/. 4
can be used fo r th e re moval of heavy me tals fro m (1 995) 346.
was te wate rs in pl ace o f ex pe nsive conventi o na l II Bhargava D S & Sheldakar S B. En 1imn Po/1111. S2 ( Jl)<J 2)
adso rbents. As the adsorbe nt used is o ne w hich is 255 .
di sposed as a waste and is easily availab le, the 12 Venkata Rao 13 & Sastry C A. India n .I Em iron Pror. 7
trea tme nt meth od is ex pec ted to be econo mical. ( 19S7) 363.
13 Peri asamy K & Nam as ivayam C. /i l(/ Eng Chnn Res. 33
Ack nowledgement ( 1994) 3 17.
The authors are thankful to Head , Departme nt o f 14 Periasam y K & Na mas inayam C. Wasfl /vlanuge. 15 ( I <J95)
63.
App li ed C he mi stry, M .S .Unive rsity of Barod a fo r
15 Peri asa my K & Namas ivaya rn C. Sep Sci Tecluw l. 30 ( 1905 )
prov iding necess ary fac iliti es. DC P and JBP are 2223.
tha nkful to IPC L, Baroda fo r prov id ing necessary 16 Periasamy K & Namasivaya m C. Chem osphere. 32 ( 1996)
fac il iti es. 769.

542