Application of arjuna (Terminalia Arjuna) bark for adsorptive removal of cadmium (II) ions from simulated water

The goal of this study was to prepare affordable, easily accessible, and ecologically friendly adsorbent from arjuna (Terminalia arjuna) bark and used to remove cadmium ions from simulated water. To study the influence of various experimental variables such as pH (2–8), adsorbent dose (0.01–0.04 g/50mL cadmium solution), contact time (10–100 min), and initial metal concentration (10–100 mg/L); batch experiments were performed. The characterization of the adsorbent was carried out using energy-dispersive X-ray (EDX), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). Utilising atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS), the concentration of Cd(II) in an aqueous solution was determined. The arjuna bark adosorbent showed the maximum removal capacity of 72% at optimized pH 6. The experimental data revealed that Freundlich isotherm model fitted well as compared to Langmuir model. The positive ΔH indicates that the adsorption of Cd(II) was endothermic. The present study demonstrated that treated powdered Arjuna bark adsorbent could effectively remediate cadmium ions contaminated water.