~ 459 ~ ISSN Print: 2394-7500 ISSN Online: 2394-5869 Impact Factor: 5.2 IJAR 2017; 3(9): 459-462 www.allresearchjournal.com Received: 07-07-2017 Accepted: 08-08-2017 Bharti Ahirwar M. Tech, Research Scholar, Department of Chemical Engineering, Ujjain Engineering College Ujjain, Madhya Pradesh, India Dr. Ashok Kumar Sharma Professor, Department of Chemical Engineering, Ujjain Engineering College, Ujjain, Madhya Pradesh, India Dr. Sarita Sharma Professor, Department of Chemical Engineering, Ujjain Engineering College, Ujjain, Madhya Pradesh, India Correspondence Bharti Ahirwar M. Tech, Research Scholar, Department of Chemical Engineering, Ujjain Engineering College Ujjain, Madhya Pradesh, India Removal of copper from aqueous solution using low cost biosorbent (Potato Peel) Bharti Ahirwar, Dr. Ashok Kumar Sharma and Dr. Sarita Sharma Abstract Literature review shows that excess concentration of copper cause various diseases and also harmful for water species life. Different conventional remedies are available besides all these; adsorption method is very cheap and cost effective. Main purpose of this study is to check the efficiency of potato peels waste as a low cost adsorbent. Copper adsorption onto potato peel powder was studied with different parameters such as pH, contact time, adsorbent doses and pollutant concentration. Result shows that maximum percent of copper removal was 76.50% at pH 6 with 10 ppm metal concentration and 5.0 gm adsorbent dose at ambient temperature. Keywords: Potato peel waste, aqueous solution, copper ion, biosorbent, adsorption process 1. Introduction Heavy metals contamination of water is a serious threat to the globe ecosystem. Many industries such as metal plating, mining operation, and tanneries release wastewaters contaminated with heavy metals into the environment [1] . It is well known that some metals can have poisonous or otherwise toxic to human beings and ecological environments, include chromium, antimony, copper, lead, mercury, cadmium, manganese etc [2] . Among the heavy metals, copper is the major available type of heavy metal in the aquatic environment. Copper in the blood system may generate reactive free oxygen species and damage the protein, lipids and DNA. The excess copper compound in the body may also affects on aging, schizophrenia, mental illness, Indian childhood cirrhosis, Wilson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases. Copper has damaged the marine ecosystem and damaged the gills, liver, kidneys, the nervous system and changing sexual life of fishes [3] . Many methods have been undertaken in the process to remove these unwanted contaminants such as physio-chemical methods, various biological methods and to large extent nano based techniques [4] . The sustainable removal of heavy metals from water and wastewater has become a major challenge for scientists. Beside this available method for copper removal [3] . Biosorption is potentially an attractive technology for treatment of waste water for retaining heavy metal form dilute solution. Biosorption has been suggested as cheaper, more effective and minimization of chemical and biological sludge. There are many natural bisorbent are present in our environment which have the capacity to remove heavy metal from waste water [5] . 2. Materials Methodology 2.1 Collection and Preparation of adsorbent Potato peels referred as biosorbent, were collected from a local food chain free of cost and washed several times with normal tap water and left over night to remove water and then rinsed in.1 M HCL. And washed with distill water repeatedly to remove free acid. Biosorbend residue was dried first in air and then finally in oven at (103-110 o C) [6] and powdered using electric grinder. The homogeneous powder was passed through mesh for desire particle size then stored in air tight plastic bottle to further use. International Journal of Applied Research 2017; 3(9): 459-462