Adsorption of Heavy Metals Ions from Mining Metallurgical Tailings Leachate Using a Shell-Based Adsorbent: Characterization, Kinetics and Isotherm Studies.

This study defines the optimal parameters that allow the use of waste mollusk shells (WS) to remove heavy metals from three mining and metallurgical leachates. First, the influence of parameters such as pH, contact time, initial metal concentration, adsorbent dose and the presence of co-ions in Cu, Cd, Zn and Ni adsorption was investigated in synthetic solutions. Metal uptake was found to be dependent on the initial pH of the solution, the removal rate increasing with the increase in pH, showing the highest affinity at pH 5-6.