Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2018 Feb 26;11(3):334.
doi: 10.3390/ma11030334.

Efficiency Evaluation of Food Waste Materials for the Removal of Metals and Metalloids from Complex Multi-Element Solutions

Lorenzo Massimi  1 , Antonella Giuliano  2 , Maria Luisa Astolfi  3 , Rossana Congedo  4 , Andrea Masotti  5 , Silvia Canepari  6
Affiliations

Efficiency Evaluation of Food Waste Materials for the Removal of Metals and Metalloids from Complex Multi-Element Solutions

Lorenzo Massimi et al. Materials (Basel). .

Abstract

Recent studies have shown the potential of food waste materials as low cost adsorbents for the removal of heavy metals and toxic elements from wastewater. However, the adsorption experiments have been performed in heterogeneous conditions, consequently it is difficult to compare the efficiency of the individual adsorbents. In this study, the adsorption capacities of 12 food waste materials were evaluated by comparing the adsorbents' efficiency for the removal of 23 elements from complex multi-element solutions, maintaining homogeneous experimental conditions. The examined materials resulted to be extremely efficient for the adsorption of many elements from synthetic multi-element solutions as well as from a heavy metal wastewater. The 12 adsorbent surfaces were analyzed by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and showed different types and amounts of functional groups, which demonstrated to act as adsorption active sites for various elements. By multivariate statistical computations of the obtained data, the 12 food waste materials were grouped in five clusters characterized by different elements' removal efficiency which resulted to be in correlation with the specific adsorbents' chemical structures. Banana peel, watermelon peel and grape waste resulted the least selective and the most efficient food waste materials for the removal of most of the elements.

Keywords: adsorbent surfaces; adsorbents’ chemical structures; adsorption capacities; biosorption; elements’ removal efficiency; environmental remediation; food waste adsorbents; heavy metal wastewater; low-cost materials; metals.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Adsorbent surfaces′ micrographs (at 100, 200 and 300 µm) obtained by scanning electron microscopy (SEM).
Figure 2
Figure 2
Adsorbent′s FTIR spectra obtained by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR).
Figure 3
Figure 3
Score plot of the principal component analysis performed on the obtained FTIR spectral data of the 12 food waste adsorbents.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Removal efficiency of watermelon peel, grape waste and coffee waste, exposed in increasing amounts (25, 50, 100 and 200 mg) to the multi-element solution at pH 2.0.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Score plot and loading plot of the PCA performed on the data obtained by the adsorption experiments at pH 2.0. PP, potato peel; LP, lemon peel; OP, orange peel; WP, watermelon peel; TP, tomato peel; CW, coffee waste; AP, apple peel; BP, banana peel; DCW, decaf coffee waste; EG, eggplant peel; CP, carob peel; GW, grape waste; 25, 25 mg of adsorbent; 50, 50 mg of adsorbent; 100, 100 mg of adsorbent; 200, 200 mg of adsorbent.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Removal efficiency of the 12 food waste adsorbents (200 mg) from the heavy metal wastewater produced in a hydro-metallurgical process (pH 5.5).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Fu F., Wang Q. Removal of heavy metal ions from wastewaters: A review. J. Environ. Manag. 2011;92:407–418. doi: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2010.11.011. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Hegazi H.A. Removal of heavy metals from wastewater using agricultural and industrial wastes as adsorbents. HBRC J. 2013;9:276–282. doi: 10.1016/j.hbrcj.2013.08.004. - DOI
    1. Owlad M., Aroua M.K., Daud W.A.W., Baroutian S. Removal of hexavalent chromium-contaminated water and wastewater: A review. Water Air Soil Pollut. 2009;200:59–77. doi: 10.1007/s11270-008-9893-7. - DOI
    1. Kamar F.H., Craciun M.E., Nechifor A.C. Heavy metals: Sources, health effects, environmental effects, removal methods and natural adsorbent material as low-cost adsorbent: Short review. Int. J. Sci. Technol. Res. 2014;3:2974–2979.
    1. Aggarwal D., Goyal M., Bansal R.C. Adsorption of chromium by activated carbon from aqueous solution. Carbon. 1999;37:1989–1997. doi: 10.1016/S0008-6223(99)00072-X. - DOI

LinkOut - more resources