Removal of nitrite from aqueous solution using sugarcane bagasse and wheat straw.

Sugarcane bagasse and wheat straw were applied for the removal of nitrite ions from water samples. Batch experiments were conducted to establish optimum pH (5), initial nitrite concentration (5 mg/L), adsorbent dose (3 mg/L) and contact time (90 min). Under the optimized conditions, raw sugarcane bagasse was found to be a more effective (removal efficiency 90 %) adsorbent in removing nitrite ions than wheat straw (removal efficiency 63 %). Adsorption isotherms and kinetic parameters were also studied. The correlation coefficient values for Langmuir and Freundlich isotherm models were 0.9625 and 0.9590, respectively. The results showed that the adsorption of nitrite fairly fits both Langmuir and Freundlich adsorption isotherms for both adsorbents. The kinetics of the adsorption process follows the pseudo second-order kinetic model.