Removal of lead from aqueous solution using exoskeleton of black soldier fly (BSF)

Heavy metal pollution in the environment from the rapid industrialization and urbanization has had a devastating consequences on all types of biological forms, either directly or indirectly. The adsorption method is one of the most popular and promising approaches due to its simplicity, low cost, and potential for reuse. In this study, the effect of experimental conditions on the adsorption of plumbum in batch system using the black soldier fly (BSF) exoskeleton. This biomaterial was selected because it has been widely used in small-scale waste management projects now days which contain chitin that plays an important role in adsorption of heavy metals. The adsorption of plumbum was found to be dependent on the initial pH, adsorbent dosage, initial concentration of plumbum and contact time. The adsorption process efficient in the basic pH region (11), adsorbent dosage (0.4 g), initial concentration (6.0 mg/L) and contact time (150 mins). It shows that the Freundlich isotherm is better in describing the adsorption process, with adsorption capacity of plumbum was 1.15247 mg/g meanwhile for kinetic models, pseudo-second-order model providing the best fitting of the experiment to describe the adsorption behaviour. It was discovered that the multilayer adsorption occurred between the BSF and plumbum as well as absorbed onto the heterogenous of available active sites. Thus, the BSF can be applied as cost effective removal of plumbum from real water samples due to their high capability.