Potential of biosorbent developed from fruit peel of Trewia nudiflora for removal of hexavalent chromium from synthetic and industrial effluent: Analyzing phytotoxicity in germinating Vigna seeds

Chromium (VI) removal efficiency of a biosorbent prepared from fruit peel of Trewia nudiflora plant was studied. The effect of pH, sorbent dose, initial metal concentration and temperature was studied with synthetic Cr+6 solution in batch mode. About 278mg/g of Cr+6 sorption was obtained at 293K at an optimum pH of 2.0 and biosorbent dose of 0.75g/L. Equilibrium sorption data with varying initial concentration of Cr+6 (22248mg/L) at three different temperatures (293313K) were analyzed by various isotherms. Biosorption kinetics and thermodynamics were described using standard model equations. Encouraging results were obtained by the application of the biosorptive treatment for removal of Cr+6 from wastewater collected from common effluent treatment plant of tannery industry. In addition, Cr+6 desorption behavior was studied on different systems. Biosorbent was characterized by FESEM, FT-IR and XRD, etc. Effect of the biosorptive treatement with respect to the phytotoxicity of Cr+6 was analyzed by studying the seed germination behavior and enzyme activity of a pulse seed (Vigna radiata L.). Different concentrations of Cr+6 solution in both synthetic medium, as well as, in tannery effluent was employed and the results were compared with that of biosorbent treated medium. The study showed that due to efficient removal of Cr+6 from aqueous phase, considerable enhancement of seed germination, as well as, increase in root length was obtained for the biosorbent treated solutions which were close to that of the control values. Significant decrease (P < 0.01) in POD activity was observed in seeds irrigated with biosorbent treated wastewater compared to untreated wastewater. The study showed that the novel biosorbent prepared might be utilized for abatement of heavy metal toxicity, i.e., Cr+6 from industrial effluent.