Removal of Chromium and Iron from Real Textile Wastewater by Sorption on Soils

Discharge of textile effluents creates serious environmental problems. This paper investigates the ability of various natural and modified soils to remove heavy metals present in the textile wastewater. Natural soils such as kaolinite, bentonite, and laterite, along with modified soils such as organoclay and biopolymer-amended laterite are considered as the potential adsorbents. Iron and chromium present in the textile wastewater are considered as model pollutants. Batch adsorption studies are carried out to determine the heavy metals sorption capacity of soils. The heavy metals removal efficiency of soils follows the order bentonite > biopolymer amended laterite soil > laterite soil > kaolinite > organoclay. Almost complete removal of heavy metals is observed with bentonite and biopolymer-amended laterite. Therefore soil is determined to be a cost-effective and efficient adsorbent for the removal of heavy metals from textile wastes