Adsorption isotherm study of copper removal from aqueous solutions onto agricultural by-product

Abstract. Pollution by heavy metals is a serious global problem, both for the environment and for any form of life. There is a growing interest to find low cost agricultural by-products with high adsorption capacity for the removal of heavy metals. In the present study the adsorptive capacity of chemically modified rice husk was evaluated for the removal of copper ions from aqueous solutions. Equilibrium isothermal experiments were conducted and five mathematical models were used to investigate the adsorption isotherm. The three parameters models Sips and Redlich-Peterson fitted better the experimental data. The maximum adsorption capacity of modified rice husk for copper ions was 34.38 mg/g and the maximum adsorption removal was 92.76%. Modified rice husk could be one of the low costs and effective adsorbent for copper removal from aqueous solutions.