Abstract:
Biosorption is the binding and concentration of adsorbates from aqueous solution by certain types of inactive, dead biomass which serve as the biosorbents. In this experiment, the ability of banana and orange peels for adsorbing colour in synthetic wastewater was studied. Malachite Green was chosen as the pollutant in the synthetic wastewater to imitate industrial dye containing wastewater. The adsorption experiment was done by agitating the solution with biosorbent in an incubator shaker at speed of 150 rpm and temperature of 30˚C. The effect of contact time, initial dye concentration, biosorbent dosage and pH were studied. Based on the results, highest colour removal percentage for banana peels were obtained at 120 minutes of contact time (93.906%), 15.0 mg/L of initial dye concentration (97.63%), 0.2 g of biosorbent dosage (97.72%) and pH 11 (97.63%). On the other hand for orange peels, highest colour removal percentage were obtained at 80 minutes of contact time (86.12%), 15.0 mg/L of initial dye concentration (88.88%), 1.0 g of biosorbent dosage (95.427%) and pH 9 (96.007%). The study is economically feasible and it is proven to be favourable. Hence, banana and orange peels are potential plant to be an effective biosorbent for the uptake of Malachite Green
