Abstract

Bay leaves are used for flavoring in cold drinks production, in bakery goods, sauces, confectionary products and liquors. The waste generated from these sources has been valorized by attempting the remediation of waste water. Hence, adsorption of toxic metals onto Bay leaves has been investigated after optimizing the experimental parameters, namely the pH, contact time, adsorbent and Zn(II) concentrations as well as the temperature of the equilibrium mixture (consisting of the metal solution in contact with the adsorbent). The participation of the constituent functional groups, of the adsorbent, was ascertained with Fourier transform spectroscopic studies. The mode of adsorption was examined by employing important isotherm models, namely Langmuir, Freundlich and Dubinin-Radushkevich models. The adsorption process was found to follow pseudo-first order kinetic model and also followed the intraparticle diffusion up to 60 minutes of contact time. The thermodynamic parameters suggest the spontaneous nature of adsorption.