Evaluation of the Natural Adsorbent Luffa cylindrical for the Removal of Cadmium (II) from Aqueous Environments

Contamination of water resources with heavy metals has nowadays become a global problem that requires continuous monitoring and control. An annual quantity of about 25,000 tons of cadmium is normally discharged into the environment. The objective of this study was to investigate cadmium removal from aqueous environments with the natural Luffa sorbent using equilibrium experiments consisting of the batch flow mode and the continuous flow mode reactors with a fixed bed column. The effects of pH, contact time, adsorbent dosage, and initial solution concentration on the uptake of metal ions by the adsorbent in the batch operation were examined. Langmuir and Freundlich isotherm models were used to investigate the adsorption equilibrium. The adsorption behavior of Cd(II) ions fitted both isotherms but followed the Langmuir isotherm most precisely (R2=0.987), with a maximum adsorption capacity of 6.711 mg/g. Cadmium removal in the continuous flow mode using a fixed bed column was also studied. The effecte of operating parameters such as flow rate and inlet Cd(II) concentration on the sorption characteristics of Luffa were determined by assessing the breakthrough curve. The data confirmed that the total amount of sorbet Cd(II) and equilibrium Cd(II) uptakes decreased with increasing flow rate but increased with increasing inlet Cd(II) concentration. The Adams–Bohart model was applied to the experimental data to predict the breakthrough curves and to determine the characteristic parameters of the column useful for process design. Results showed that the natural Luffa absorbent was capable of efficiently removing cadmium from water.