Chicken drumstick bones as an efficient biosorbent for copper (II) removal from aqueous solution

Abstract

The biosorption of copper (II) from aqueous solution on chicken drumstick bones as an efficient biosorbent was investigated. Batch shaking experiments were performed to examine the effects of solution pH (2–7), agitation speed (100–250 rpm), contact time (10–180 min),temperature (25–40°C), biosorbent particle size (250–100 micro-meters), initial metal (50–250mg L-1) and biosorbent concentrations (2.5–20 g L-1). An agitation speed of 200 rpm was found to be the optimum while the optimum pH was found to occur between a pH of 4–5. The maximum biosorption capacity obtained was 19.08mg Cu(II)/g adsorbent. Within the range of25–40C, the higher temperature was found to boost the biosorption. The results indicate that Langmuir model provides best correlation of experimental data. It is proposed that the copper-uptake process is controlled by surface chemisorption interactions at the earlier stages (0–20 min) and by intraparticle diffusion at the later stages (after 20 min).