Sorption of copper and nickel by spent animal bones

Animal bone is able to adsorb copper and nickel ions from their single aqueous solutions. It was noted that a decrease in the sorbent concentration with constant copper or nickel concentration, or an increase in the copper or nickel concentration with a constant sorbent concentration resulted in a higher metal loading per unit weight of the sorbent. Increase in the initial pH of the metal solution resulted in an increase in the metals uptake per unit weight of the sorbent. Freundlich isotherm model was found to be applicable for the experimental data of Cu2+ and Ni2+. The results showed that animals bones can be used for the adsorption of the Cu2+ and Ni2+ with higher affinity toward Cu2+ ions. The new sorbent was able to decrease copper concentration to a limit lower than the limit permitted by the environmental regulations. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.