Adsorption of Cu(II) ve Zn(II) ions by alginate-based composites: Full factorial design approach

Groundnut biochar (GHB) encapsulated in calcium-alginate (CA) beads (GHB-CA) was synthesized as a novel composite adsorbent for the removal of copper (II) and zinc (II) from an aqueous solution. BET, SEM, EDS, FTIR, TGA were used to characterize the adsorbents. The data obtained were used to establish the adsorption isotherm using the models of two-, three- and four-parameter isotherms. To study the kinetics of adsorption of heavy metals adsorption on CA and GHB-CA, the pseudo-first-order model, the pseudo-second-order model, Esquivel, Avrami and Bangham were used. The adsorption performance showed that they could use low-cost and effective alginate-based composites for heavy metal removal. To obtain maximum adsorption, applied a full factorial design of three factors (metal ion type, adsorbent type and adsorbent dose) at two levels. It statistically optimized the influence of main variables on copper and lead removal using the synthesized novel adsorbent.