Abstract

With the expansion of textile industries and their extensive use of chemicals, industrial wastewater contaminated with heavy metals and textile dyes is finding its way into our usable water sources more frequently than ever. The high cost of current treatment procedures, as well as the environmental concerns associated, puts our drinkable water at risk of contamination. Agricultural  byproducts, or biosorbents, can function as bio-adsorbents to remove dissolved substances from wastewater through adsorption. These materials are abundant and organic but are usually underutilized due to their generated sludge and lack of extensive effciency. The purpose of our research is to develop a contact adsorbent medium by processing and combining five well-known biosorbents: neem (Azadirachta indica) leaf and bark, peanut (Arachis hypogaea) husk, coffee (Coffea arabica) ground, watermelon (Citrullus lanatus) rind, and banana (Musa sapientum) peels. By combining their treatment capacities, we were able to treat copper-contaminated water. We found that a paper-shaped medium can efficiently remove a signifcant portion of dissolved material while minimizing sludge, thus creating potential for replacing our existing non-sustainable treatment materials with an organic alternative derived from agricultural wastes.