Available online www.jocpr.com Journal of Chemical and Pharmaceutical Research, 2015, 7(5):589-598 Research Article ISSN : 0975-7384 CODEN(USA) : JCPRC5 589 Removal of Cu (II), Ni (II), and Co (II) ions from aqueous solution using low cost adsorbent: Isotherms, kinetics and equilibrium aspects Nagwa A. Badawy 1 , Amina A. El-Bayaa 1 and Enas Amdeha 2* 1 Chemistry Department, Faculty of Science, Al-Azhar University (Girls), Nasr City, Cairo, Egypt 2 Process Design and Development Department, Egyptian Petroleum Research Institute, Nasr City, Cairo, Egypt _____________________________________________________________________________________________ ABSTRACT Environmental protection becomes a difficult task as many industries produce wastes that cause serious pollution. An industrial solid waste of sugarcane had been converted into an inexpensive and effective adsorbent to be used for the removal of some metal from aqueous solution. Effect of various parameters e.g., metal ion concentration, adsorbent dose, solution pH, and contacting time on the removal of Cu (II), Ni (II), and Co (II) ions had been studied. Maximum adsorption of Cu (II), Ni (II), and Co (II) ions were 78 %, 72%, and 69 %, occurred at metal ion concentration 70 ppm and at pH value of 6.5, 6.0 and 6.0, respectively. A dose of 14 g/l of adsorbent was sufficient for the optimum removal of metal ions. The material exhibits good adsorption capacity and the adsorption data follow the Langmuir model better than the Freundlich model. Kinetic parameters of adsorbent for the removal of each metal ion from wastewater were studied. Keywords: Adsorption isotherm, Kinetic, waste of sugarcane, metal ions, Environmental protection. _____________________________________________________________________________________________ INTRODUCTION Environmental pollution, as a consequence of the industrialization process, is one of the major problems that have to be solved and controlled. The presence of metal ions in municipal or industrial wastewater and their potential impact have been a subject of scientific environmental research for a long time because of their extreme toxicity even at low concentrations, and their tendency to accumulate in the food chain, causing various disorders for living organisms [1]. Heavy metals are released into the environment from a number of industries such as mining, plating, dyeing, automobile manufacturing and metal processing. The presence of heavy metals in the environment has led to a number of environmental problems. Heavy metals are not biodegradable and have become an eco-toxicological hazard of prime interest and increasing significance owing to their harmful effect on human physiology and other biological systems when they exceed the tolerance levels. The removal of toxic metals from wastewater is a matter of great interest in the field of water pollution, which is a serious cause of environmental degradation. Heavy metals such as copper, nickel and cobalt are among the most common pollutants found in industrial effluents [2]. As a consequence, methods to remove metal species from wastewaters have been the subject of different researches, in order to improve the water quality. A number of methods for metal ions removal from wastewaters have been used, but most have disadvantages, such as continuous input of chemicals, high cost and even incomplete metal removal. These methods are based on physical or chemical replacement, generating yet another problem in the form of a toxic sludge [3]. Adsorption is a very effective process for a variety of applications, and now it is considered an economical and efficient method for metal ions removal from wastewaters. The adsorption process provides an attractive alternative