Both surface and groundwater can be contaminated with a variety of chemicals, making it dangerous to use water for domestic usage. Water can be contaminated with heavy metals (HM), petroleum products, detergents, radioactive isotopes, mineral or organic fertilizers. Copper, cadmium and lead are some of the most commonly emitted heavy metals from various industries. Adsorption is considered to be one of the alternative methods of treatment of wastewater contaminated with heavy metals. The use of adsorbents of biological origin for the removal of heavy metals from wastewater is a promising method due to the low costs, rapid biodegradation and easy availability of adsorbents.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3846/aainz.2021.23