ABSTRACT Water pollution is a serious threat to our environment as it can cause degradation of the quality of water. Heavy metal is one of the major pollutants contributing to water contamination. Amongst the heavy metals, lead (Pb II) is one of most common heavy metals discharged from the industries into water system. The exposure to Pb (II) can lead to negative health effects on humans even at low concentrations if it is not removed from the water. Conventional method for Pb (II) removal has some limitations. Therefore, an alternative method of using an inexpensive bio-adsorbent made from agricultural waste was explored. The aim of this paper is to determine the ability of a bio-adsorbent made from the combination of banana peels and sugarcane bagasse powder in removing Pb (II) ion from water. The results showed that the bio-adsorbent of mixed sugarcane bagasse and banana peel powder produces the highest adsorption with 6.27 mg/L of Pb (II) ions. Furthermore, biomass as low as 1.0 g can yield the optimum removal percentage of Pb (II) ions. The bio-adsorbent of mixed sugarcane bagasse and banana peels can serve as a low-cost alternative to remove Pb (II) from wastewater.
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