merged

Removal of Cadmium Ions from Synthetic Wastewater by Using Elephant
Grass (Pennisetum Purpureum) As a Low Cost Biodegradable Adsorbent
Ling Shing Yun
Supervisor: Dr. Asmadi bin Ali @ Mahmud
Bachelor of Technology (Environment)
School of Ocean Engineering
Universiti Malaysia Terengganu
At present, heavy metal pollution becomes one of the major environmental concerns.
Adsorption with activated carbon is effective for heavy metals removal but sometimes
restricted due to high cost and problems with regeneration hamper large scale
application. Hence, biosorption is being introduced to replace activated carbon since
they are available in large quantities, renewable and inexpensive. The aim of this study
was to investigate Pennisetum purpureum as a potential biosorbent in cadmium ions
removal. Subsequent to this, the removal efficiency of untreated and nitric acidtreated
Pennisetum purpureum were investigated by batch adsorption experiments.
In this study, treated Pennisetum purpureum has larger surface area and is
mesoporous. Both biosorbents consist of functional groups which are able to bind with
positively charged cadmium ions. The maximum percent removal for untreated and
treated Pennisetum purpureum are 92% and 98% respectively. The results
demonstrated that both biosorbents have their great potential in cadmium ions
removal.
39 | U M T U N D E R G R A D U A T E R E S E A R C H D A Y 2019