Bioremediation of Lead and Cadmium by Tea Waste: Sreedevi.P, Parameswari C.S

IOSR Journal of Environmental Science, Toxicology and Food Technology (IOSR-JESTFT)
e-ISSN: 2319-2402,p- ISSN: 2319-2399.Volume 10, Issue 2 Ver. II (Feb. 2016), PP 103-107
www.iosrjournals.org
Bioremediation of Lead and Cadmium by Tea Waste

Sreedevi.P1, Parameswari C.S2.
1
Department of Biochemistry, Annai violet arts and science college, Chennai, India.
2
Department of Biochemistry, Bharathi womens college, Chennai, India.
Abstract: Heavy metals released by a number of industrial processes are major pollutants in marine, ground,
industrial and even treated waste waters. Biosorption is a process that utilizes biological materials as
adsorbents and several researchers have studied this method as an alternative technique to conventional
methods for heavy metal removal from wastewaters. In this study, the efficiency of tea waste has been
determined in the process of heavy metal removing from single metal ion solution and mixed metal ion
solutions. Metals of interest are lead and cadmium. The research is bench scale experiment type and analyses
have performed by using fixed amount of adsorbent in solution with four different concentrations (5mgs/L,
10mgs/L, 15mgs/L and 30mgs/L) of each metal and also in a mixed combination. Since the pH plays a major
role in adsorption, it should be maintained at 4.5 throughout the experiment. Result indicates the removal
efficiency is highest for lead than for cadmium. The adsorption data fit well with the Langmiur isotherm model.
Though tea waste could adsorb 80 +2% cadmium in single metal ion solution, but its adsorption of cadmium
get increased to 90+2 % in mixed ion solution. This indicates that lead acts as the stimulator for cadmium.
Comprehensive parameters indicate tea waste to be excellent parameters for Biosorption of lead and cadmium
to treat waste waters containing low concentration of metals.
Key Words: Biosorption, lead, cadmium, tea waste and Langmuir isotherm.
I. Introduction
Water pollution is a large set of adverse effects upon water bodies such as lakes, rivers, oceans and
ground water caused by human activities. (Wikipedia, 2005). The search for newer technologies involving the
removal of toxic metals from wastewaters has directed attention to biosorption, based on metal binding
capacities of various biological materials. Biosorption can be defined as the ability of biological materials to
accumulate heavy metals from wastewater through metabolically mediated or physico-chemical pathways of
uptake. (Fourest and Roux, 1992).
Recent biosorption experiments have focused attention on waste materials, which are by-products or
the waste materials from large-scale industrial operations. The by-products obtained from biomaterial
production are a cheap source of biosorbents. The process is effective even if the concentration is as low as
200g/l. (Prasad and Frietas, 2000.). In this study, the efficiency of tea waste has been determined in the
process of heavy metal removing from both single metal ion solutions and mixed metal ion solutions. Metals of
interest are lead and cadmium. They were chosen based on their industrial applications and potential pollution
impact on the environment.
II. Materials and methods:

Effect Of Pre Trearment On The Biosorption Of Heavy Metals:
Metal affinity to the biomass can be manipulated by pretreating the biomass with alkalies, acids,
detergents and heat, which may increase the amount of the metal sorbed (Yan and Viraraghavan, 2000). In the
present study adsorbents are prepared from waste tea leaves and treated at 80 0 C for 20 hours and utilized for
the removal of lead and cadmium from aqueous solutions. The dried biomass was ground with a mortar and
Pestle. The particles were separated by using a US standard testing sieves and stored in a sealed bottle to prevent
readsorption of moisture.
Preparation Of Metal Solution:
Stock solution of lead: It was prepared by dissolving 0.16g of lead nitrate in 100ml of distilled water.
(Concentration of lead 1mg/ml)
Stock solution of cadmium: It was prepared by dissolving 0.237g of cadmium acetate in 100ml of
distilled water. (Concentration of cadmium 1mg/ml) Individually lead and cadmium standards were
prepared with four different concentrations such as 5mg/L, 10mg/L, 15mg/L and 30mg/L using the
respective stocks. The pH of the solution was adjusted to 4.5 by making use of digital pH meter.
DOI: 10.9790/2402-1022103107
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Bioremediation Of Lead And Cadmium By Tea Waste

Biosorption Studies:
The biosorption capacity of tea waste was determined by contacting various concentrations of 100ml of
individual and mixed solution of lead and cadmium with 1 gram of tea waste in 250 ml conical flasks. The
mixed solution is prepared by mixing 50ml of lead and 50ml cadmium solution of respective concentration. The
Flasks were plugged with petroleum jelly and were shaken in a rotary Shaker at 120 rpm for 30 minutes and 60
minutes. It was filtered through Whatmann filter paper and the filtrate containing residual concentration of lead
and cadmium were determined by atomic absorption spectrophotometer (Lead and mixed metal solution
was determined by 283.8 nm and cadmium Solution was determined by 228.8 nm) in C.P. Ramaswamy Aiyar
foundation, Alwarpet, Chennai.
III. Result and discussion:

The biosorption observation on the ability of tea waste to remove lead and cadmium made in this study
are discussed in this section.
Effect Of Time:
Table 1 & 2 show the amount of the metal adsorbed onto biosorbents and biosorption capacity
with reaction time for different metal concentration. The adsorption capacity of lead and cadmium
increases rapidly in the beginning due to larger available surface area of the biosorbents. After the capacity
of the adsorbent get exhausted that is at equilibrium the rate of uptake is controlled by the rate at which the
adsorbate is transported from the exterior to the interior sites of the biosorbents particles. (Verma et al.
2006).
Effect Of Agitation Speed:
A 30 40 % increase in adsorption was observed in agitated sample during 60 minutes of
biosorption. This is because agitation facilitates proper contact between the metal ions in solution and the
biomass binding sites and thereby promotes effective transfer of sorbate ions to the sorbent sites. This
observation agrees with the previously reported biosorptive removal of Cr (V) by Rhizopus arrhizus
(Niyogi et al. 1998) and Rhizopus Nigerians (Bai and Abraham, 2003).
Effect Of pH:
The experiments were not conducted above pH 6 to avoid possible hydroxide precipitation. The
effect of pH on the biosorption capacity can be interpreted by the competition of the hydronium ions (H 30)
and metal ions for binding sites. At low pH values, the ligands on the cell are closely associated with the
hydronium ions, but when the pH is increased, the hydronium ions are gradually dissociated and positively
charged metal ions are associated with the free binding sites. Other researchers (Bengudla and Benaissa,
2002; Esposito et al. 2002, Yang and Volesky, 1999) reported similar findings.
TABLE 1 The Concentration Of Residual Lead And Cadmium After Adsorption By Tea Waste:
AMOUNT
OF
BIOSORBENT (g/L)
TYPE
METAL
OF
TIME
MINUTES
IN
INITIAL AMOUNT OF METAL IN mg/L

5mgs/L
1g
LEAD
30
60
CADMIUM
30
60
0.50*
0.015
0.25*
0.025
0.50*
0.023
0.48*
0.02
mgs/L
mgs/L +
mgs/L
mgs/L +
10 mgs/L
15 mgs/L
0.75*
0.02
0.50
0.016
0.94
0.02
0.94*
0.028
0.75*
0.014
0.75*
0.023
1.48*
0.028
1.39*
0.022
mgs/L +
*mgs/L +
*mgs/L +
mgs/L +
30 mgs/L
mgs/L
mgs/L
mgs/L
mgs/L
0.75* mgs/L
0.024
0.75* mgs/L
0.025
3.44 *mgs/L
0.015
3.12* mgs/L
0.02
The values are expressed as mean + SD. Statistical significance p value is *P < 0.05.
DOI: 10.9790/2402-1022103107
104 | Page
+
+
+
+

TABLE 2:The Concentration Of Residual Metals In Mixed Solution After Adsorption By Tea Waste:
AMOUNT
OF
BIOSORBENT (g/L)
1g
TYPE
METAL
LEAD
OF
CADMIUM
TIME
IN
MINUTES
60
60
INITIAL AMOUNT OF METAL IN mg/L

5mgs/L
10 mgs/L
0.42 * mgs/L + 0.02 0.42
*mgs/L +
0.02
0.19 * mgs/L + 0.35 * mgs/L +
0.027
0.029
15 mgs/L
0.63* mgs/L +
0.018
0.64* mgs/L +
0.02
30 mgs/L
0.83* mgs/L
0.027
1.40* mgs/L
0.035
The values are expressed as mean + SD. Statistical significance p value is *P < 0.05.
Biosorption Kinetics:
The lead and cadmium uptake capacity of the tea waste was evaluated using the Langmuir
adsorption isotherms. The Langmuir isotherm represents the equilibrium distribution of metal ions
between the solid and liquid phases. The following equation can be used to model the adsorption
isotherm,
qmax x b x c eq
q = ---------------------1 + b x c eq
Where q is milligrams of metal accumulated per gram of the biosorbent material; C eq is the metal
residual concentration in the solution; q max is the maximum specific uptake corresponding to the site
saturation and b is the ratio of adsorption and desorption rates (Chong and Volesky, 1995).
Biosorption Equilibrium:
Adsorption isotherms are very important for the design of an adsorption based process
design. In this study, the Langmuir isotherm model was used to correlate our experimental data. The
equilibrium established between adsorbed component on the biosorbents and unabsorbed component
in solution can be represented by adsorption isotherm. The equilibrium adsorption data for individual
and mixed lead and cadmium are given in table 3. As can be seen in this table, the Langmuir isotherm
indicates good monolayer coverage of metal ions on the surface of the biomass.
TABLE 3: THE AMOUNT OF METAL ACCUMULATED IN INDIVIDUAL AND MIXED METAL
SOLUTION IN 60 MINUTES BY 1g OF BIOSORBENT (BASED ON LANGMUIR ISOTHERM)
Metals
INDIVIDUAL
MIXED
Initial concentration of metals in mgs / L

5mgs / L
10 mgs / L
15 mgs / L
30 mgs / L
Pb
4.51mg / L
9.025 mg / L
13.53 mg/L
28.51 mg/L
Cd
4.09 mg/L
8.21 mg/L
12.35 mg/L
24.1 mg/L
Pb
4.19 mg/L
9.17 mg/L
13.77 mg/L
28.37 mg/L
Cd
4.62 mg/L
9.31 mg/L
13.75 mg/L
27.27 mg/L
Detrmination Of Favourable Adsorption:

The essential characteristic of the Langmuir isotherms can be expressed in terms of
dimensionless constant separation factor or equilibrium parameter, R L that is defined as
1
RL = __________
1 + b x co
Where b is the ratio of adsorption and desorption rates (Chong and Volesky , 1995) and C 0 is the initial
concentration of metal. The RL value indicates the type of isotherm is shown in table 4. According to Mc kay
et al (1982) RL values indicate favorable adsorption. The R L value for individual lead and cadmium were
found to be between 0.01 to 0.0008 and 0.019 to 0.003 whereas for mixed lead and cadmium were found to be
between 0.016 to 0.0009. This shows the favorable adsorption of metal by tea waste.
DOI: 10.9790/2402-1022103107
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+
+

TABLE : 4 Type Of Isotherm:
RL
RL>1
RL= 1
0<RL<1
RL = 0
TYPE OF ISOTHERM
Unfavorable
Linear
Favorable
Irreversible
Efficiency Of Tea Waste:

The percentage of metal adsorbed by biosorbent can be calculated as follows
Q max
Q =-----------------X 100
C0
Q is the biosorbent adsorption efficiency in percentage. Q max is the maximum uptake capacity by unit mass of
the adsorbent (mg/g dry weight). C0 is the concentration of metal ions before adsorption. (mg/L).
Effect Of Metal Ion Concentration:
Although the biosorption capacity profiles of lead and cadmium are very similar (Figure 1 & 2), the
capacity of lead was substantially higher than that for cadmium. Figure 1 & 2 indicates that the adsorption of
lead increases with increase in metal concentration upto 30 mg/L, whereas the adsorption of cadmium increases
upto 15 mgs/L but decreases at 30 mgs/L. This enumerates that metal ion concentration rises; adsorption
increases while the binding sites are not saturated.
The stimulatory role of other ions on sorption process can be well understood by comparing the metal
uptake capacities of the biosorbents in the case of individual (Figure 1) and mixed (Figure 2) metal ion solution.
Though tea waste could adsorb 80 + 2 % cd in single metal solution, but its adsorption of cadmium get increased
to 90 + 2 % in mixed solution. This illustrates that Pb stimulates the adsorption of Cd by tea waste. This
observation agrees with the previously reported biosorption removal of uranium get influenced by the presence
of Zn 2+ and Fe 2+ by Rhizopus arrhizus ( Tsezos and Volesky, 1982).
Figure1:
Figure2:
IV. Conclusion
The results indicate that tea waste is an excellent biosorbent for the removal of lead and cadmium ions.
The pH plays a significant role in the biosorption mechanism by associating positively charged metal ions with
the binding site of the biosorbent. A 30-40% increase in adsorption was observed in agitated sample during 60
minutes of biosorption. The uptake capacity of biosorbent is increased with increasing metal ion concentration
for lead from 90% to 95% and for cadmium from 81.8% to 82.3%.The uptake capacity of biosorbent for
DOI: 10.9790/2402-1022103107
106 | Page

cadmium is increased by the presence of lead. The adsorption of cadmium in single metal ion solution is 82.3%
is increased to 93.1% in mixed metal ion solution. The data fits well to Langmuir isotherm and the monolayer
maximum adsorption capacities of lead in single and mixed metal ion solutions are 28.51mg/g and 28.37 mg/g
and of cadmium in single and mixed metal ion solution are 24.1 mg/g and 27.27 mg/g. Therefore, the present
study clearly demonstrates the possibility of usage of low cost biosorbent, tea waste as a suitable alternative for
the removal of lead and cadmium. Further studies will enhance the emerging of low cost biosorbent as the best
method to remove the industrial pollutant, lead and cadmium from the industrial effluent.
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DOI: 10.9790/2402-1022103107
107 | Page

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IOSR Journal of Environmental Science, Toxicology and Food Technology (IOSR-JESTFT)

Bioremediation of Lead and Cadmium by Tea Waste

II. Materials and methods:

Bioremediation Of Lead And Cadmium By Tea Waste

III. Result and discussion:

INITIAL AMOUNT OF METAL IN mg/L

Bioremediation Of Lead And Cadmium By Tea Waste

INITIAL AMOUNT OF METAL IN mg/L

Initial concentration of metals in mgs / L

Detrmination Of Favourable Adsorption:

Bioremediation Of Lead And Cadmium By Tea Waste

Efficiency Of Tea Waste:

Bioremediation Of Lead And Cadmium By Tea Waste

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