Phytoremediation of synthetic wastewater by adsorption of lead and zinc onto Alpinia galanga Willd

Adsorption of Pb(II) and Zn(II) from aqueous solution onto a phytosorbent mixture of galangal (Alpinia galangaWilld) leaves and pseudostem has been investigated in a batch system. Removal efficiency was optimized with respect topH, contact time, initial Pb(II) and Zn(II) concentration and phytosorbent dosage. Galangal exhibited a higher adsorptionefficiency for lead (95.2%) than for zinc (66.9%). Both lead and zinc equilibrium sorption data were better represented by theFreundlich isotherm than the Langmuir isotherm and in each case followed second order kinetics.