Removal of Heavy Metals from Aqueous Solutions Using Acrylic-modified Sugarcane Bagasse-based Adsorbents: Equilibrium and Kinetic Studies

Recently, more and more attention has been centered on developing cheaper, highly efficient, environmentally friendly adsorbents for the removal of metal ions from industrial effluents. The present work deals with the removal of metal ions from an aqueous solution using a highly efficient, biodegradable adsorbent from hydrogel prepared by the free radical graft polymerization of sugarcane bagasse with acrylic acid and acrylamide using N, N-methylene-bis-acrylamide as a crosslinker. FTIR and SEM/EDX spectroscopies were used to characterize the structure and the morphology of adsorbent before and after the metal ions adsorption. The effects of pH, contact time, and initial concentration of metal ion on the adsorption capacity were studied. The adsorption equilibrium time of Pb 2+ , Cd 2+ , and Cu 2+ were 60, 90, and 180 min, respectively. The maximum adsorption capacities of Cu 2+ , Pb 2+ , and Cd 2+