UTILIZATION OF BAMBOO CULMS AND PERIWINKLE IN UPTAKE OF THREE HEAVY ION IN AQUEOUS MEDIA

BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
Heavy metals are of great ecological significance today due to their toxic and accumulative nature. Warren J.F. Blais, (2000), noted that various activities of man in recent years have increase the quantity and distribution of heavy metals in the atmosphere, land and water bodies. The extent of these wide-spread but generally little contamination has caused concern about its possible hazard on plants, animals and human beings. Mining, dumping of dangerous military wastes on sites and dumping of carcasses of old damaged vehicles are some of the sources of land heavy metal pollution. Pollution of streams and rivers flowing through agricultural areas where fungicides and pesticides may have been used and even pollutants from industrial effluents contribute most of these heavy metals at the reception sites.

In Nigeria, the Federal Environmental Protection Agency (FEPA) is the body saddled with the responsibility for the protection of the environment. This agency has put in place laws and regulations guiding wastes management and disposal, emphasizing the treatment of wastes before disposal by the concerned industries.
Adsorption processes have been known over the years as the primary method of metal ions removal from polluted environment. Other methods used for the removal of heavy metals from wastes water effluents involved the use of chemical precipitation, evaporation, electrochemical treatment and the use of ion exchange resins. These methods have been found to be expensive and sometimes inefficient especially when the toxic heavy metals are present in low concentration, S. Rengaraj; (2001).

In recent years, the use of biomaterials in the sorption process as adsorbent for the removal of heavy metal ions from polluted waste water has been an emerging field of interest for many researchers. These biomaterials have gained importance due to their efficiency, low cost and ready availability. The unique ability of these materials of plant origin to bind metals has been attributed to be due to the presence of some functional groups on the surface of the adsorbent, which can attract or sequester these metal ions. Gardea (2001), demonstrates that the carboxyl groups found on the cell wall of dead algal biomass are potentially responsible for copper binding.
Effluents from industries all over the world contained some of these hazardous heavy metal ions. Most industries in Nigeria discharge their effluents into the environment, particularly nearby rivers untreated. The major reason of indulging in such unlawful act is to reduce cost and maximize profit and thereby endangering the life of the populace.

What come to mind in the use of agricultural materials for metal removal is the availability and low cost sorbents for adsorption. In this study, the adsorbents used are usually disposed off indiscriminately into the environment and constitute environmental hazard to the public, particularly in the southern part of the country where they are widely available. These sorbents can gainfully be employ to treat effluents from industries before being discharge into the environment.

Several researchers, reported that the use of agricultural biomass of both plant and animal origin for the sorption of heavy metals from solutions. Okuo (2004), reported that the use of chemically treated periwinkle shells to remove lead and mercury from aqueous medium. Periwinkle shells are known to contain polar functional groups such as primary amines groups, hydroxyl groups, carboxylic acid groups and amide and phenolic groups. Similarly coco nut husk and palm kernel fiber also contained these functional groups. Most of these functional groups can donate electron to metal ions thereby enhancing adsorption by chemisorptions and consequently their removal from aqueous medium. These functional groups are responsible for the adsorption capacity of the blended periwinkle shells.
In this study, bamboo culm were characterized, blended with periwinkle shells, thiolated and used to remove heavy metal ions-Co2+, Ni2+ and Cd2+ ions from aqueous solution.