Dried Biosorbent Derived from Banana Peel: A Potential Biosorbent for Removal of Cadmium Ions from Aqueous Solution

Banana peel, an agricultural waste, was used as biosorbent for the biosorption of cadmium ions from aqueous solution. The important parameters such as particle sizes, initial solution pH and initial cadmium ion concentration were evaluated on the biosorption studies, in a batch scale at 25 ๐ C. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy revealed that carboxyl, hydroxyl and amide groups on the banana peel surface was involved in the adsorption of the cadmium ions. The particle size of banana peel had no effect on the removal of cadmium ions. The cadmium ion removal increased significantly as pH of the solution increased rapidly from 1 to 5. At pH of about 5, cadmium ion removal reached a maximum value of 17.94%. Biosorption isotherms showed an S-shaped isotherm, that did not follow the Langmuir and Freundlich isotherm model. The result shows that banana peel could be used as biosorbent for removing cadmium ions from aqueous