Background: The presence of heavy metals in aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems causes harmful effects to living organisms in the environment. This research aimed to determine the potential of activated pumice stone (APS) as a sorbent for the removal of Cd, Cu, and Zn from wastewater.
Methods: This research was conducted during 2013 on a laboratory scale. The study was performed using batch experiments with synthetic wastewater having Cd, Cu, and Zn concentrations of 10, 20, 40, and 80 mg/L. Various isotherm models, including Langmuir and Freundlich, were used to evaluate the sorption data. The influence of contact time and amount of sorbent on the removal of Cd, Cu, and Zn from wastewater was studied. All experiments were done at pH = 7 and at room temperature (20 ± 1°C). The solution pH was adjusted using 1N NaOH or 1N HCl solutions, and the pH value was determined by a pH meter.
Results: The results showed that the adsorption of Cd, Cu, and Zn approaches equilibrium after about 2 hours, while the rates of removal efficiency for Cd, Cu, and Zn at equilibrium were 91.6%, 91.8%, and 82.9%, respectively. Kinetic studies showed that the sorption of Cd, Cu, and Zn onto APS were fitted to the pseudo-second order kinetic models.
Conclusion: The results indicate that the APS is a good choice, because it is a low-cost and effective sorbent. The sorption capacity of APS as a sorbent was considerably affected by the initial concentration of metal ions in the solution and by contact time.