Rice Bran as an Excellent Sorbent for Heavy Metals from Aqueous Media, 1. Optimization of Conditions

In this two‐part report, the efficiency of rice bran in removal of heavy metals such as cadmium, lead, zinc, nickel, copper and iron(III) from aqueous solution is investigated. The different experimental conditions such as pH, temperature, volume of solution, bran amount, particle size, exchange time, stirring speed, etc. are studied, and the optimum conditions are selected in part 1 of this series of reports. The efficiency of bran in removal of heavy metals is presented with and without treatments. For treatment, heat or acid, alkali and salt solutions were used. The results obtained show that after treating with saturated sodium chloride solution, its efficiency for Ni²⁺ and Zn²⁺ improves. At pH 5, all studied cations have recoveries more than 93% (lead and cadmium 100%). The exchange speed is very high and has preference over the classical ion exchangers.