Adsorption of Pb2+ ions from aqueous solutions by gelatin/activated carbon composite bead form

Abstract

Gelatin and activated carbon materials have been combined together to obtain a gelatin/activated carbon composite bead form which is ecofriendly, nontoxic, biocompatible, and inexpensive material. In this paper, gelatin/activated carbon adsorption for Pb2+ ions from aqueous solutions was studied experimentally under various conditions. The experimental conditions such as contact time, solution pH, and gelatin/activated carbon dosage were examined and evaluated by using batch adsorption experiments. The maximum adsorption capacity of gelatin/activated carbon for Pb2+ ions was obtained to be 370.37 mg g−1. This maximum capacity was comparable with that of commercial ion exchange resins and it was much higher than those of natural zeolites. The uptake process for Pb2+ ions was found to be relatively fast with 92.15% of the adsorption completed in about 5 min in batch conditions. The adsorption capacity was also strongly solution pH dependent. Adsorption was observed at pH value as low as 2.0 and maximum adsorption was achieved at a pH of approximately 5. The results indicated that the gelatin/activated carbon was effective to be used as an adsorbent for Pb2+ ions removal in wastewater treatment.