Equilibrium isotherm studies for the uptake of Mercury and Nickel ions onto sugar beet pulp

Sugar beet pulp, a waste-product of sugar-refining factories, is suggested as sorbent to remove Mercury from aqueous solutions in a batch process. The sorbent is enhanced in its removal efficiency by pretreatment with 0.3 M NaOH. The effects of pH, temperature, sorbent dosage, time on uptake and initial concentration of Mercury are considered. The sorption process was relatively fast and equilibrium was reached after about 70 min of contact. Maximum removal efficiency of Mercury is observed at values of pH from 4.5 and pH from 6 for Nickel ion with a sorbent amount of 5 g L_1. In the work we using FT-IR and UV-VIS for data obtain. In the work we using methods Freundlich and Langmuir and for data obtain and the equilibrium data fit well to the Langmuir model with a maximum uptake capacity of 131 mg/g and 142 mg/g for Mercury and Nickel ions .The extent of adsorption for ion increased along with an increase of the Sugar beet pulp dosage. Sugar beet pulp, which is cheap and highly selective, therefore seems to be a promising substrate to entrap heavy metals in aqueous solutions.