Abstract:
The aim of this study is to investigate ability of cassava peel to remove Cu(II)
in synthetic waste water. The cassava peel was value added by converting to
biosorbent for Cu(II) removal. First of all, dried cassava peel was analyzed to
characterize the major composition of dried cassava peel. The results of proximate
analysis showed that dried cassava peel contained high content of carbohydrate (92.57
%). The dried cassava peel also contained appreciable amounts of moisture (3.85 %),
crude protein (2.14 %), fat (1.3 %) and ash (0.14 %). Then, dried cassava peel was
treated with 0.3 M of HNO3 prior to adsorption study. Generally, this study
investigated the effect of contact time (30, 60, 90, 120, 150 and 180 min), the effect of
pH (3, 4, 5, 6 and 7) and initial concentration of Cu(II) (2, 4, 6 and 10 ppm) on Cu(II)
removal. The final concentration of Cu(II) was measured by using Atomic Absorption
Spectrometer (327.4 nm). The biosorption reached equilibrium after 180 minutes of
incubation with 84.6 % Cu(II) removal. Ten ppm of initial Cu(II) concentration and
10 g of biosorbent resulted in the highest reduction with 60 % and 79 % Cu(II)
removal respectively. The biosorption performance was greater in acidic condition
where pH 5 showed highest reduction with 82.6 % of Cu(II) removal. As the
conclusion, activated cassava peel was efficiently performed at 180 minutes of
incubation, 10 ppm of initial Cu(II) concentration, 10 g of cassava peel and pH of 5 Finding from this study proved that cassava peel can be further used for treatment of
industrial wastewater effluent
