ORIGINAL RESEARCH
Oyster Shell as a Low-Cost Adsorbent
for Removing Heavy Metal Ions from Wastewater
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1
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Seoul National University, Seoul, South Korea
2
College of Architecture and Civil Engineering, Taiyuan University of Technology, Taiyuan, China
3
Coastal Disaster Prevention Research Center, Korea Institute of Ocean Science and Technology,
Busan, South Korea
Submission date: 2018-03-22
Final revision date: 2018-07-02
Acceptance date: 2018-07-05
Online publication date: 2019-02-25
Publication date: 2019-04-09
Pol. J. Environ. Stud. 2019;28(4):2949-2959
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ABSTRACT
Oyster shell powder is a potential adsorbent material that can be used to control pollution
in groundwater. The current research objective is to evaluate the heavy metal ion adsorption properties
by oyster shell powder in an aqueous solution. Three kinds of heavy metals (copper, cadmium, and lead)
were adsorbed using oyster shell powder from aqueous solution. The effects of different temperatures,
contact times, pH values, and initial concentrations were examined in order to optimize the conditions
used for heavy metal decontamination. Cadmium and copper adsorption behaviours were suitable
for modelling by the Langmuir isotherm, and lead adsorption behaviour was best modelled by
the Freundlich isotherm. Adsorption situations fitted a pseudo second-order kinetic model. Intraparticular
diffusion of heavy metal ions by oyster shell powder could be divided into two stages: rapid
diffusion first, followed by a stable second stage. The maximum adsorption amount was ranked in
an ascending order as that to copper, cadmium, and then lead for both single and competitive systems.
The adsorption capacities of copper, cadmium, and lead ions by oyster shell powder were lower
in a competitive system than in a single system, indicating that competitive adsorption could occur.