Characterizing local Garden Croton (‘pokok puding’) leaf powder as low cost biomaterial for Chromium(VI) uptake

¹ Faculty of Agro Based Industry, Universiti Malaysia Kelantan, Jeli Campus, Locked Bag No. 100, 17600 Jeli, Kelantan, Malaysia
² Fostem, Inti University, Putra Nilai, 71800 Nilai, N. Sembilan, Malaysia

^a Corresponding author: palsan.abdullah@umk.edu.my

Abstract

This paper reports the first ever characterization of the use of raw Garden Croton (locally known as ‘pokok puding’) leaf powder as low cost biomaterial for Cr(VI) removal. Biosorption experiments were carried out at ambient temperature to study the effects of initial pH (1-7), contact time (15, 30, 45, 60 min), leaf powder’s particle size (≤ 150, 151-300, 301-500 μm), and initial Cr(VI) concentrations (10, 20, 40, 60, 80 and 100 mg/L) towards Cr(VI) uptake. Optimum Cr(VI) uptake was observed at pH 1 (2.41 mg/g) and 2 (2.19 mg/g) (p > 0.05). The leaf powder in the 151-300 μm size displayed better Cr(VI) uptake up to 2.77 mg/g (77.78%; C_o = 100 mg/L) at pH 2, after 30 min (p < 0.05). Equilibrium metal uptake fitted best (R² = 0.927) to the Freundlich isotherm model (K_f = 0.21 mg/g, n = 1.23) indicating biosorption onto a heterogeneous surface of active sites. Morphological and elemental analyses by SEM/EDX and FTIR confirmed Cr retention, and presence of active chemical moieties. Interestingly, XRD revealed that Cr was immobilized within the biomass leaf powder in both forms, i.e. hexavalent, Cr(VI) as chromatite (CaCrO₄) and trivalent Cr(III), as chromium(III) oxide (Cr₂O₃). Overall findings support the feasibility of the leaf powder as potential biomaterial for water pollution abatement.