Heavy metals retention capacity of a non-conventional sorbent developed from a mixture of industrial and agricultural wastes

Zinc and copper removal from aqueous solutions using brine sediments (industrial residue), sawdust (agricultural residue) and the mixture of both materials has been researched through batch and column tests. Brine sediments were found to be mainly constituted by halite and calcite, while its main cations exchangeable were sodium, calcium, magnesium and potassium. In sawdust the main exchangeable cations detected were calcium, magnesium, sodium and potassium. FT-IR spectra of sawdust and brine sediment-sawdust mixture showed that brine sediments produced important changes in carboxylic, alcoholic and phenolic groups present in the sawdust. The maximum zinc adsorption capacity was found to be 4.85, 2.58 and 5.59 mg/g using an adsorbent/solution ratio of 1/40, for brine sediments, sawdust and the mixture, respectively. For copper, the maximum adsorption capacity was found to be 4.69, 2.31 and 4.33 mg/g, using adsorbent/solution ratios of 1/40, for brine sediments, sawdust and the mixture, respectively. Maximum copper adsorption capacity of the mixture, on the contrary to zinc adsorption, was lightly inferior to maximum adsorption capacity obtained in brine sediments. Adsorption isotherms data adjusted better to the Langmuir model. Additionally, columns reached the saturation point at 690 min for zinc and 360 min for copper. The main mechanism involved in the removal of both metals may be the ionic exchange between sodium and calcium ions present in brine sediments and H+ present in functional groups of sawdust. The use of brine sediments, sawdust and their mixture, presents an interesting option both, for wastewater decontamination (as a possible non-conventional sorbent for the removal of heavy metals) and as a waste recycling option. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.