Abstract

Nowadays, water contamination by heavy metals has become a world-wide environmental problem. Recently, bioadsorption has been proposed as an alternative treatment procedure. Moreover, enhancement of agro-industrial waste is the great interest. In this sense, the aim of this study is to perform a chemical characterization of moringa pods and subsequent study as bioadsorbent for removal of aluminum (III) from aqueous systems. The pods used were collected from Guárico, Venezuela. After dried, ground and sieved to a particle size of 595 um, were characterized by scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM/EDS), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and point of zero charge (pHPZC). The potential of pods was tested under different pH conditions (2 to 9), biomass (0.25 g), metal concentration (50.0 mg/L), contact time (30 min) and volume of solution (30.0 ml) by batch system. The residual metal concentration was measured by atomic absorption spectrophotometry (AAS). The results showed that this biomaterial containing functional groups and adequate morphological profile for the retention of metal ions. Additionally, present a point of zero charge of 6. The optimal removal of Al (III) ions was achieved at pH 7 (99%). According to achieved results, moringa pods have promising characteristics for applications aluminum (III) remediation from contaminated waters at low cost, easy acquisition, eco-friendly and relatively neutral pH.