REMOVAL OF AMMONIUM FROM WATER BY PINE CONE POWDER AS BIOSORBENT

Pine cone, a popular agricultural waste, was investigated as a novel ammonium biosorbent in its raw and sodium hydroxide modified form. Surface modification of pine cone powder were carried out using sodium hydroxide solution of concentarions (0,05 and 0,1mg/L). The effects of physico-chemical parameters such as solution pH, contact time and biosorbent dosage were investigated in the biosorption of ammonium onto pine cone powder. It was found that the biosorption capacity was optimal using 6–10 solution pH range and t he rate of sorption was very fast, during the first 15 min.  Biosorption kinetics and equilibrium data for the romoval of NH 4 + ions onto pine cone powder were examined by fitting the experimental data to various model. The biosortion was described by a pseudo-second-order model predicting a chemisorption process. In addition, the equilibrium data were well characterized by the Langmuir isotherm model that confirmed the mono-layer coverage. The surface properties of raw pine cone powder and its sodium hydroxide modified form were analyzed by Scanning Electron Microscopy with Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (SEM-EDS) and powder X-ray diffraction (XRD). The chemical composition of pine cone powder before and after biosorption of ammonium is discussed in relation to the XRD and SEM-EDS results. T he results showed that the surface of pine cone powder samples is modified by sodium hydroxide solution and the chemical composition of pine cone powder samples is changed after biosorption of ammonium. This from presents an interesting option for tertiary wastewater treatment (as a possible non-conventional biosorbent for the removal of ammonium). Keywords : Ammonium; Removal; Water; Biosorption; Pine cone; X-ray; SEM-EDS