ORIGINAL RESEARCH
Absorption Behaviours of Copper, Lead,
and Arsenic in Aqueous Solution Using Date
Palm Fibres and Orange Peel: Kinetics
and Thermodynamics
Muhammad Tahir Amin1, Abdulrahman Ali Alazba1, Muhammad Nasir Amin2
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1Alamoudi Water Research Chair, King Saud University,
P.O. Box 2460, Riyadh 11451, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
2Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, College of Engineering, King Faisal University,
P.O. Box 380, Al-Hofuf, Al-Ahsa 31982, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
Submission date: 2016-09-05
Final revision date: 2016-11-13
Acceptance date: 2016-11-13
Online publication date: 2017-03-22
Publication date: 2017-03-22
Pol. J. Environ. Stud. 2017;26(2):543-557
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ABSTRACT
In this study, date palm fibres and orange peel in both individual and hybrid forms were studied for the
removal of copper, lead, and arsenic. Equilibrium was achieved after 150 minutes, and the highest and the
lowest removal efficiencies were for Cu+2 and As(V), respectively. A slightly higher removal efficiency of
metal ions using orange peel was observed, which could be due to the greater number of functional groups
on the chemically pre-treated adsorbent. The highest removal was observed at pH 6, and the adsorption data
exhibited a linear increase in metal removal capacity with increasing adsorbent concentrations from 0.1 to
2 g/L. A significantly higher removal efficiency was observed for a 45 μm particle size compared to larger
particle sizes. Additionally, a 30-40% decrease in removal efficiencies was observed for all three heavy
metal ions when using the date palm fibres or the hybrid adsorbent when the initial metal concentrations
were increased from 20 to 80 mg/L. The Freundlich model agreed with the experimental data slightly better
than the Langmuir model for both date palm fibres and the hybrid adsorbent. A pseudo second-order kinetic
model better described the kinetic behaviour of As(V) adsorption on the investigated adsorbents. Date
palm fibres exhibited exothermic adsorption, while both orange peel and the hybrid adsorbent displayed
exothermic and endothermic reactions. Increased randomness at the solid-liquid interface was observed for
all adsorbents, and the Gibbs free energy change values were negative, confirming the spontaneous nature
of adsorption, which proceeded in the forward direction.