Preliminary Studies on Equilibrium and Kinetics of Heavy Metal Ion Sorption on Immobilized Ficus asperifolia Stem Bark Biomass

In our quest to exploit the biomasses in our local environment for an efficient water treatment at the level of hazardous aqueous ions removal, we furthered here by immobilizing the stem bark biomass of Ficus asperifolia in a stable polymer matrix of calcium alginate. The sorption capacity of the immobilized F. asperifolia stembark (IFASB) for the heavy metal ions as determined from the percentage change in initial concentrations of their aqueous solutions using atomic absorption spectrophotometer (AAS), were as follows: Cu2+ 96.41%, Fe3+ 94.15%, Cd2+ 99.91%, Zn2+ 97.91%, Pb2+ 99.30%, Cr3+ 97.12%, Mn2+ 94.73% respectively. Equilibrium and kinetics investigations were carried out while studying the effect of ionic strength, pH, initial concentration and contact time on the sorption capacity of IFASB. Even though there are some variations within the ranges of investigation, the IFASB can be said to still exhibit an impressive absorption capacity (not less than 80%) for all the ions and under all varied conditions. This study therefore includes the IFASB in the archive of modified biomasses with economic potentials in the removal of heavy metals from wastewater.