Adsorption of Chrome Cr (VI) from Aqueous Solution by Olive Leaves Powder

The pollution caused by the heavy metals presents in industrial effluents has increased in the last decades, thus raising the concern of the industries to treat their waste correctly as well as the search for low cost techniques. Adsorption of Cr (VI) from aqueous solutions by olive leaves powder was investigated in batch experiments. Olive leaves were selected because of its porous morphology and rich in carboxyl, hydroxyl, and carbonyl among other functional groups which responsible for adsorption. The effect of pH, powder dosage, contact time, initial Cr (VI) concentration, mixing speed and particles size on removal efficiencies of olive leaves was studied. The adsorption percent was found to be 91.5% from the initial Cr (VI) metal ion concentration of 50 mg/L with 18 g/L adsorbent dose of leaves powder ( 150 – 200 μm) at pH = 4 after contact time of 90 min with agitation speed of 200 rpm. The adsorption data were found to be fitted well with Langmuir adsorption isotherm model. Olive leaves were shown to be a promising biosorbent for Cr (VI) removal from aqueous solutions and can be used as an alternative to the processes of wastewater treatment.