Bioremediation: Sorption of Cu2+, Fe3+, Mn2+, and Zn2+ Using Immobilized Ficus sycomorus Leaves Biomass

Abstract

Sorption of Fe³⁺, Mn²⁺, Zn²⁺, and Cu²⁺ by immobilized Ficus sycomorus leaves (IFSL) in aqueous solution was studied in this work. The sorption capacity (in percentage) was calculated with respect to the remnant ion concentration, determined using atomic absorption spectrophotometer (AAS) and these were obtained for the metal ions as follows; Fe³⁺: 99.84±0.0015%, Mn²⁺: 99.97±0.0005%, Zn²⁺: 84.10±0.0094% andCu²⁺: 94.32±0.0033%. Some conditions that influence the sorption capacity of metal ions such as; pH, contact time, ionic strength, and initial metal ion concentration were also investigated. Results show that metal ion uptake by the biosorbent decreased with increase in ionic strength while increase in initial metal ion concentration led to increase in metal ion uptake. Maximum sorption was found to occur at pH of 5.0, 5.0, 6.0 and 5.0 for Fe³⁺, Mn²⁺, Zn²⁺ and Cu²⁺ respectively. The ability of the IFSL to remove these metal ions from aqueous solution is encouraging, hence its extended potentials in bioremediation of wastewaters.

Keywords: Bioremediation, Ficus sycomorus, immobilization, metal ions, sorption