Abstract

Heavy metal removal from wastewater is crucial for the proper management of discharged water from mining operations. This residual water is typically unusable for other purposes such as for human/animal, crop, or industrial consumption. Eco-friendly adsorption materials are necessary to ensure the sustainable treatment of this wastewater. Therefore, the sorption of Cu(II), Cd(II), Pb(II), and Zn(II) ions onto chitosan–tripolyphosphate (CTPP) beads was investigated using real mining wastewater and prepared ion metal solutions. The effects of pH, contact time, temperature, selectivity, and maximum sorption capacity in successive batches at different concentrations were studied. The optimum sorption of cations, except for copper (pH 3) was found at pH 5. Equilibrium in the adsorption of all metals was reached at 24 h of contact. Studies of the maximum sorption capacity at different concentrations showed that the CTPP beads could adsorb 158, 55, 47, and 47 mg/g of Pb(II), Cu(II), Cd(II), and Zn(II), respectively. Experimental data for the sorption of Pb(II) were optimally correlated with the Langmuir model. The thermodynamic parameters such as the changes in enthalpy (DH0), entropy (DS0), and free energy (DG0) were determined.