BIOSORPTION OF Cr(VI) USING RICE STRAW WASTE

Water pollution is one of the main environmental problems. One of the pollutants that become serious problem in aquatic ecosystems is heavy metal such as Cr(VI) that can be harmful to living organisms including human. Thus, the technology to solve Cr(VI) pollution is needed. One of the low cost and environmentally safe technologies to solve the problem is biosorption. The present study investigated the biosorption of Cr(VI) using rice straw waste. This substance is selected because easily available and relatively inexpensive. The result of this study showed that the rice straw waste had promising ability to adsorb Cr(VI). The optimum time of biosorption was 120 minute. The biosorption characteristics were fitted well to the Langmuir adsorption model. The result of this study suggested that the biosorption of Cr(VI) to rice straw waste occurred through physicochemical interactions in this case ion exchange mechanism and electrostatic interaction. According to the result of this study, the rice straw waste is prospective biosorbent to solve aquatic ecosystem pollutions especially heavy metal pollution such as Cr(VI) contamination