The Removal of Lead, Copper and Zinc from Industrial Wastewater Using Grape Fruit Peels

The current study was designed for using grape fruit peels (Citrus paradise) to remove lead, copper and zinc from industrial wastewater. Three forms of these peels (fresh, dried small pieces and powder) were tested under some environmental factors such as pH, temperature and contact time. Current data show that grape fruit peels are capable of removing lead, copper and zinc ions with a significant capacity. Furthermore, the powder of grape fruit peels had a highest capability in removing all lead, copper and zinc ions followed by fresh peels whilst dried peels had the lowest bioremoving capacity again for all metals under test. The highest capacity was for lead then copper and finally zinc. All these data were significantly (LSD peel forms = 3.349 mg/l) varied. However, some examined factors were found to have significant impacts upon the bioremoval capacity of grape fruit peels such as pH, temperature, and contact time where best biosorption capacity was found at pH 4, at temperature 50 C and contact time of 1 hour. It is true that grape fruit peels varied significantly in case of metal ions and increasing examined factor (pH, temperature, and contact time). The fourier transform infrared spectroscopy analysis (FTIR) illustrated that hydroxyl, carboxyl and carbonyl groups were the major binding sites for Pb, Cu and Zn ions by grape fruit peels.