As the search for renewable resources for removal of pollutants from the environment grows, the use of biological sorbents has received a
great deal of attention. Biological sorbents such as human hair have been explored due to their ready availability, renewability and
effectiveness. This manuscript reports a study of the dynamics of copper(II) ions uptake by human hair using conductivity and pH
measurements. The adsorption of these ions demonstrated a logarithmic behaviour, resembling first order kinetics, although the analysis
showed a deviation from the first order kinetics. The maximum uptake of 288 µg g-1was reached after about 120 minutes of static
equilibration using a solution of 100 ppm. Interestingly the adsorption seems to be intermediate between a simple chemisorption and ion
exchange as evidenced by a deviation from the linearity when conductivity was plotted against the pH measurements. However there was a
significant correlation (R
2 = 0.9926) between conductivity and pH in the case of a classical ion exchange resin – Amberlite CG 50.
Key words: Human hair; Amberlite; copper ions; extraction; conductivity; ion exchange
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