Heavy metal sorption by native shells of pea grain

Togliatti State University, 445020, Togliatti, Russia

^* Corresponding author: shel-nv@yandex.ru

Abstract

One of the current problems of the agricultural and industrial complex is the increase in the volume of waste generated, with a low level of recycling. A promising way to recycle waste from enterprises engaged in grain processing is to produce sorbents for purification of polluted water. The aim of this work was to study the degree of sorption of heavy metal ions, which are one of the main pollutants of surface and industrial wastewater, native shells of pea grains. The raw materials investigated were crushed and infused in distilled water. Then solutions of heavy metals in a certain concentration were added, followed by filtration, mineralisation of the obtained samples, and determination of the residual concentration of heavy metal ions by inversion voltammetry. It was found that the sorption activity of pea grain shells varies depending on the variety of this crop and the type of heavy metals. The lowest residual concentration of cadmium in the model solutions after exposure indicates the highest sorption capacity of the native shells of the pea grains in relation to the ions of this metal. The best ability to bind heavy metal ions were the shells of pea variety Temp. However, native shells of pea grains are not able to fully extract heavy metal ions from aqueous solutions. Modification of pea grain shells will increase their sorption activity.