Vanida Chairgulprasert, Aumikansung Japakeya and Haseenah Samaae

pp. 227 - 233

Abstract

Adsorption of Pb(II) and Zn(II) from aqueous solution onto a phytosorbent mixture of galangal (Alpinia galanga
Willd) leaves and pseudostem has been investigated in a batch system. Removal efficiency was optimized with respect to
pH, contact time, initial Pb(II) and Zn(II) concentration and phytosorbent dosage. Galangal exhibited a higher adsorption
efficiency for lead (95.2%) than for zinc (66.9%). Both lead and zinc equilibrium sorption data were better represented by the
Freundlich isotherm than the Langmuir isotherm and in each case followed second order kinetics. 

Keywords

• galangal
• heavy metal
• adsorption isotherm
• adsorption kinetics
• phytosorbent