Effective Biosorption of Phosphate from Water Using Fe(III)-Loaded Pomegranate Peel

N. Bashyal, S. Aryal, R. Rai, P. C. Lohani, S. K. Gautam, M. R. Pokhrel and B. R. Poudel

Abstract
Removal of phosphate from wastewater is necessary for the safety of public health and environmental protection. The present study used an easily available and affordable biosorbent obtained from the pomegranate peel for the excision of phosphate from water. The biosorption behavior of raw pomegranate peel powder (RPGPP) was found negligible. The RPGPP was further saponified with Ca(OH)2 followed by Fe(III) loading to obtain Fe(III)-loaded pomegranate peels (Fe(III)-PGPP), which was then employed for the phosphate uptake. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and X-ray diffraction (XRD) were used to characterize the biosorbent. The batch adsorption test was used to evaluate the adsorption viability of biosorbents for removing phosphate from aqueous solution. Fe(III)-PGPP was determined to have a pHPZC of 5.40. The experimental data were best explained by the Langmuir isotherm and pseudo-second-order kinetic model. Fe(III)-PGPP had the largest phosphate biosorption capacity of 99.30 mg g–1 at the optimum pH of 3.0 and 2.5 hours of contact time. From the results obtained, Fe(III)-PGPP adsorbent can be regarded as an effective and cost-efficient material for the treatment of phosphate-anion-contaminated water.

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Keywords
wastewater treatment, phosphate, biomass, pomegranate peel, biosorbent