Waste tea as absorbent for removal of heavy metal present in contaminated water

The goal of this study is to investigate the efficacy of tea-derived absorbents for the removal of heavy metals from contaminated water. For this, absorbents were prepared from milk tea (MT) waste, Ilam tea (IT) waste, and various types of tea leaves, including Immature (IML), mature (ML), and old leaves (OL). The characterization of the absorbents revealed distinct physical and chemical properties from X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), with varying degrees of effectiveness observed across different absorbent types. Heavy metal removal efficiency was assessed using a chemical-free UV-spectrophotometer. The results show that the maximum removal efficiency for Cd using the IT absorbent reaches up to 82.14 % with 100 ppm cetyltrim ethylammonium bromide (CTAB), while the minimum removal efficiency is 32.14 % using the OL absorbent with 20 ppm CTAB. For Zn, the OL absorbent demonstrates a maximum removal efficiency of 52.59 % with 100 ppm CTAB, whereas the minimum efficiency is 3.70 % using the ML absorbent with 20 ppm CTAB. For Ni, the highest removal efficiency is achieved with the ML absorbent, reaching up to 97.73 % with 100 ppm CTAB, and the lowest is 31.82 % with the MT absorbent with 20 ppm CTAB. The addition of a catalyst further enhanced removal efficiencies in both absorbents and metals. Also, the removal of heavy metal ions using 0.05 g of tea absorbent combined with CTAB at varying concentrations. Results show that the addition of 20 ppm and 100 ppm CTAB significantly reduces metal ion concentrations from an initial 100 mg/L. The metal ion concentration decreases as CTAB concentration increases, demonstrating the effectiveness of CTAB in enhancing the absorption capacity of tea absorbent for heavy metal removal. The investigation of selective adsorption of Ni, Zn, and Cd by an adsorbent, revealing competitive adsorption behavior with Ni and Zn being adsorbed more rapidly than Cd, suggesting the impact of metal ion interference on adsorption efficiency. However, limitations were observed with certain absorbent types; for instance, immature leaves did not effectively remove Ni. Overall, this study underscores the potential of tea-derived absorbents as sustainable solutions for mitigating heavy metal pollution in industrial wastewater. Further research is needed to optimize absorbent formulations and explore their applicability in real-world environmental remediation scenarios.