Biosorption of Ni(II) Ions from Electroplating Industrial Effluent using Tinospora cardifolia Biomass

A biomass derived from the plant Tinospora cardifolia has been found to be very efficient in Nickel(II) adsorption. An attempt was made to use this biomass for Nickel(II) removal under different conditions. The parameters optimized were contact time (5–1440 min), pH (1–10), concentration of adsorbent (1–7 gm/L), concentration of adsorbate (10–500 mg/L), etc. It was observed that the pH had a strong effect on biosorption capacity. The optimum pH obtained for nickel adsorption was 4.0. The influence of common ions such as Cu(II), Zn(II), Cd(II), Fe(III), Mn(II), Pb(II) and Cr(VI) and NO3-, SO4- PO4- and Cl- at concentrations varying from 10 to 500 mg/l was investigated. To establish the most appropriate correlation for the equilibrium curves, isotherm studies were performed for Ni(II) ion using Freundlich and Langmuir adsorption isotherms. The pattern of adsorption fitted well with both models. The biomass of T. cardifolia was found to be effective for the removal of Ni(II) with 92.3% sorption efficiency at a concentration of 50 mg/l of Ni(II) solution, and thus uptake capacity(qm) according to Langmuir isotherm is 4.48 mg/g of biomass and in column mode 2.49 mg/g of biomass. Keywords: Nickel; Adsorption; Biomass; Tinospora cardifoli