Scientific Research: Biosorption and Chemical Precipitation of Lead Using Biomaterials, Molecular Sieves, and Chlorides, Carbonates, and Sulfates of Na & Ca

Lead, a heavy metal, is a wellknown contaminant in water and has been reported to cause serious
health implications to humans, animals, and plants. One of the processes for heavy metal remediation
of contaminated water is chemical precipitation. In this present work, chemical precipitation of lead
from a contaminated aqueous matrix by chlorides, carbonates, and sulfates of sodium and calcium
was compared to lead removal by molecular sieves and biomaterials (fish-bone, grape and spinach).
The order of lead removal from 1400 ppm of lead solution is sodium chloride (31%) < calcium chloride
(62%) < burnt grape (83%) < charred spinach (92.3%) < sodium phosphate (95.8%) < sodium
carbonate (97%) < molecular sieve sphere (98.7%) < sodium sulfate (99.3%) < calcium sulfate
(99.7%) < molecular sieves ground (99.71%) < fishbone (99.87%) < calcium carbonate (99.9%).