Abstract

J. O. Akaninwor, M. O. Wegwu and I. U. Iba

Various kinds of agro and wood based fibres can be used to filter both trace and heavy metals from contaminated solutions. The efficacy of thioglycolic acid treated oil-palm fibre was investigated in this study. The result showed maximum absorptions (at pH = 6) of 83.6, 75.6 and 50.8% for Fe++, Zn++ and Mg++ respectively in the Southern Point (SP) samples. Similarly, 79.1, 78.3 and 77.5% for Fe++, Zn++ and Mg++ were obtained for Northern Point (NP) samples. The removal efficiency of the metals was pH as well as ionic size dependent. The uptake capacities showed that iron had a higher capacity than zinc while magnesium had the least. This study therefore suggests that thioglycolic acid modified oil-palm fibre is highly efficient in sorption of metals from solutions and should be used as such at a slightly acidic pH.