Evaluation of lignocellulose Nano-fiber absorbent efficacy in lead removal from aqueous solutions

Water pollution by metallic ions such as lead from industrials, mine wastewater, automobiles is currently of great concern, since they are not biodegradable and tend to accumulate in living organisms, causing various diseases and disorders. Recently, great attention has been focused on the removal of metallic ions from aqueous solution using adsorbents derived from biomaterials and bio-Nanomaterials due to their natural, abundance, cost-effectiveness and inherent ability to react with metals. The present study aims to evaluate the performance of lignocellulose Nanofibers (cellulose nanofibers containing lignin and hemicellulose) as adsorbent for the removal of lead. The study of adsorption techniques were used in laboratory-scale batch. The effects of pH, initial concentration and dose adsorbent were examined. To study the absorption temperature, thermodynamic parameters such as Gibbs energy (ΔG), enthalpy (ΔH◦) and entropy (ΔS◦) were calculated. The results of this study showed that the highest removal efficiency was 99.8% at a Nano-absorbent concentration 0.3 mg/l, pH=6, and lead concentration of 10 mg/l. The batch isotherm studies showed that the adsorption data can be described by the Langmuir, Freundlich models. The Langmuir model was found to describe the adsorption data better in comparison with that of Freundlich. The results showed that lignocellulose Nanofibers had high ability to absorb high concentrations of lead from aqueous solutions. The results of thermodynamics express themselves spontaneously, thermally and increase the rate of reaction disorder. The TEM showed the adsorbents have fibers and the networking crystalline structure.