REMOVAL OF HEAVY METAL Cr (II), Ni (II), Cu (II), Zn (II), Cd (II), Pb (II) IONS FROM AQUEOUS SOLUTION BY MENTHA PIPERITA EXTRACT

In this study, the usage of the peppermint (Mentha piperita) for extracting the metal ions [Mg (II), Cr (II), Ni (II), Cu (II), Zn (II), Cd (II), Pb (II)] that exist at water was investigated. In order to analyze the stability properties, Langmuir, Freundlich, Temkin and Dubinin-Radushkevich isotherms were used at removing the metal ions and the highest correlation coefficients (R2) were obtained at Langmuir isotherm. Therefore, it is seen that the Langmuir model is more proper than the Freundlich model. However, it was found that the correlation coefficients of removing Ni and Cd is higher at Freundlich model than Langmuir and low at Dubinin-Radushkevich isotherm. It is established that the biosorption amount increase depends on the increase of biosorbent and it can be achieved high efficiency (95%) even with small amount (0.6 mg, peppermint extract) at lead ions. It is also determined that the peppermint extracted that is used at this study shows high biosorption capacity for metal ions and can be used for immobilization of metals from polluted areas.