Adsorptive Removal of Chromium (VI) Ions from Aqueous Solution by Banana Pseudo Stem Adsorbent

The presence of Cr ions in wastewater must be treated before being released into the environment due to its detrimental impact on both the environment and human health. In this study, the removal of Cr (VI) ions from an aqueous solution was investigated by adsorption using an adsorbent derived from agriculture wastes, banana pseudo stem. The adsorbent was prepared by oven-drying the banana stem waste at 105C for 24 h. The surface structure of the adsorbent was characterized using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Batch adsorption experiments were carried out to determine the removal efficiency of Cr (VI) ions based on four adsorption operation parameters: pH of the solution, adsorbent dosage, contact time and initial concentration of ion solution. At room temperature, the highest Cr (VI) ions removal of 88.2% was achieved using 0.5 g banana pseudo stem adsorbent, with an initial concentration of chromium solution of 500 ppm at pH 2 and after 90 min of contact time. For the equilibrium study, the experimental data were better fitted by the Langmuir isotherm model with a maximum adsorption capacity of 33.33 mg/g. Meanwhile, the kinetic isotherm was best fitted by the pseudo-second-order model. Therefore, the banana pseudo stem showed great potential as an efficient, low-cost and natural green adsorbent for Cr (VI) ions removal from an aqueous solution via adsorption.