Articles

The plant leaves used as adsorbent in this study were Guava plant leaves (GPL) and Cashew plant leaves (CPL). The samples were collected within Gombe State. Batch adsorption method was used in determining the adsorption process. Fourier Transform Spectroscopy (FT-IR), Scan-ning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) were used for the characterization. The results show promising signs as they were in agreement with most literatures; various per-centage removals were obtained from Pb²⁺ and Cd²⁺ (GPL and CPL) at optimum conditions. The equilibrium data fitted well with both Langmuir and Freundlich isotherm models. Langmuir mod-el fitted well for Pb²⁺ (CPL) with R² value (0.9855) and Cd²⁺ for (GPL and CPL) with R²values (0.9945 and 0.9948) while Pb²⁺ (GPL) with correlation coefficient at 0.9116 best fits well with Freundlich isotherm model. Pseudo first order and second order were used in testing the kinetics study from which pseudo second order best fitted better than that of the first order kinetics. The thermodynamic study shows that ΔG is negative in most cases except for Cd²⁺ (GPL) where ΔG is positive. Whereas ΔH and ΔS are positive in some cases showing an endothermic and spontane-ous adsorption processes respectively, as well as negative in some. Based on this study, GPL and CPL could be used as a natural adsorbent to remove Pb²⁺ and Cd²⁺ heavy metals from wastewater and environment due to their high removal efficiencies.