article · Journal of Environmental Science and Pollution Research
Industrial wastewater containing lead poses severe risks to soils and crops when reused for irrigation without prior treatment. Groundnut shell was evaluated as an adsorbent to extract lead from contaminated water and to test the effects of the treatment by-products on bean plant development over fifty days. The material demonstrated rapid physical adsorption, eliminating ninety percent of lead within five minutes and reaching an overall capacity of 117.30 milligrams per gram. The removal process proved spontaneous and exothermic across various operational temperatures. When applied to agricultural soil, water treated with the shell material supported better bean growth parameters than either the control or raw untreated wastewater. In addition, the spent adsorbent loaded with captured lead produced the highest bean growth performance observed in the tests.
Using untreated industrial effluent for agricultural irrigation introduces dangerous heavy metals into soils and food systems. Transforming an abundant agricultural residue like groundnut shells into a low-cost filter provides a practical way to decontaminate industrial runoff. It allows safer water recycling while turning processing waste into potential soil amendments that support crop cultivation.
This research could enable low-cost effluent remediation systems for industrial facilities and agricultural operations seeking safe water reuse. Prospective users include wastewater treatment operators and agricultural enterprises dealing with heavy metal contamination. The findings represent applied, tested experimental research at the laboratory or small trial stage, requiring further scale-up studies before real-world adoption.
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Lead (Pb) is the second most toxic metal after As but industrial effluents with Pb are used to irrigate the agricultural lands without treatment, contaminating the soil and affecting plants growth. This study aims at treating water-containing Pb with groundnut shell, studying the influence of the treated water, untreated Pb wastewater and the lead adsorbed groundnut shell adsorbent on beans growth performance. Pb(II) adsorption was studied using the parameters such as contact time, dose of adsorbent, Pb(II) initial concentration, pH and temperature. Untreated Pb(II) wastewater (100, 50, 10, and 1 mg/L), groundnut shell treated Pb(II) wastewater for five concentrations, and the recovered Pb(II) adsorbent were respectively used to irrigate and fertilize the soil and beans growth performance monitored for 50 days. 90% lead was removed in 5 minutes. 100% removal efficiency obtained for 1 mg/L, reducing to 80% for 5 mg/L and increasingly steadily to 97% for 300 mg/L. Maximum of 94% Pb(II) was removed at 20, 35 and 45 oC and the removal process was spontaneous at all the temperatures studied and exothermic. RL (dimensionless separation factor) of 0.91 shows very favourable Pb(II) removal. Pb(II) adsorption capacity of 117.30 mg/g was obtained, and higher than those of other studies reported for groundnut shell. The adsorption energy from Dubinin–Radushkevich isotherm was 0.669 kJ/mol, – 0.239 kJ/mol from Temkin isotherm and -6.37 KJ/mol enthalpy, indicating physical adsorption process. All beans growth parameters were favourable with treated wastewater for all the concentrations tested compared to the control and raw untreated wastewater. Highest beans growth performance was obtained with used groundnut shell adsorbent. Groundnut shell effectively removes lead from wastewater, producing safer water and lead adsorbed groundnut shell waste adsorbent that both enhance beans growth performance more than the untreated Pb(II) wastewater and the control.
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DOI: 10.30799/jespr.262.25110301
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