LEMON PEEL AS NATURAL BIOSORBENT TO REMOVE PHOSPHATE FROM SIMULATED WASTEWATER

Lemon peel, a discarded agro-waste, was used as a biosorbent for removal of phosphate from simulated wastewater by sorption process. The characteristics of this adsorbent were tested by using FTIR in order to study the chemical compounds and oxidizing compounds, also to know the functional groups of organic compounds such as amino groups, carboxyl, hydroxyl and carbonyl. The influence of various practical factors such as pH; adsorbent dosage, contact time, initial concentrations of phosphate and temperature have been investigated through a set of batch experiments on the removal process efficiency. Equilibrium isotherm and kinetic study models of phosphate sorption onto adsorbents were also studied, Langmuir isotherm was found to be the appropriate equation and a second-order kinetic model was used to calculate the kinetic constants of inclusive adsorption rate. The results indicated that adsorption is an endothermic process for phosphate removal.