Adsorbent potential of the leaf powder of Artocarpus heterophyllus Lam. (jackfruit) in efficiently removing hexavalent chromium from landfill leachate

Chromium (VI), a ubiquitous toxin, has been associated with several human cancer types as well as immunologic, cardiovascular, developmental, neurological, and endocrine disorders. The present study investigated the selective adsorption capacity and chromium (VI) removal ability of jackfruit leaf powder (JLP, Artocarpus heterophyllus Lam.) in landfill leachate collected from eastern region of southern India. The efficiency of prepared JLP in removing chromium (VI) from landfill leachate was examined using a number of variables such as adsorbent dose, pH, and reaction time by employing the batch adsorption process. The maximum chromium removal efficiency was observed by increasing the adsorbent dose, pH, and reaction time, while the optimal dose of JLP, pH, and adsorption reaction time were found to be 0.5 g/L, pH 8, and 120 min, respectively. Batch adsorption process under optimal conditions showed adsorption capacity value of 0.19 mg/g and the chromium (VI) removal efficiency of 95%. The data were examined using kinetic and equilibrium models. The experimental data and the Freundlich isotherm and pseudo-second order kinetics models were well-matched. The SEM and FT-IR of fresh and recovered JLP revealed similar surface morphology and functional characteristics, representing the active site present in the adsorbent (JLP) showing no significant change. We performed experiments on chromium (VI) recovery from the adsorbent that resulted in the higher recovery % of chromium (VI) with 0.5 M HCl (90%). The results suggest that JLP may be employed as a cost-effective bio-adsorbent for the removal of chromium (VI) from contaminated soil and water resources.