Potential Use of Agricultural Waste—Carob Kibbles (Ceratonia siliqua L.) as a Biosorbent for Removing Boron from Wastewater

Abstract

The release of boron (B) into the environment as a result of anthropogenic activity modifies sustainable natural conditions, thus affecting ecosystems. To meet water quality regulations, commercial and natural boron adsorbents are available to reduce its concentrations in industrial effluents, with the former being not only more expensive but also less sustainable. In the publication, the biosorption parameters of carob kibbles (Ceratonia siliqua L.) were optimized in order to remove boron from aqueous solutions using batch experiments. The biosorbent used in the present research was agro-waste biomass provided by the local locust-beam gum industry. Boron removal by carob kibbles was favored at high initial pH values, and this capacity was found to be a function of boron initial concentration, biosorbent content in the solution, and particle size. The change in temperature did not affect the potential of biomass to remove boron. The highest boron removal efficiency (55.1%) was achieved under the following optimal conditions: 50 g/L biosorbent dose (Cs), with particle size range 0.025–0.106 mm, for the initial concentration (C0) of boron in the solution of 100 mg/L, at an initial pH of 11.5, for 5 h at 25 °C. This investigation suggests that carob kibble agro-waste can be valorized as a biosorbent to remove boron from wastewater, and the boron-loaded residue may eventually be explored as a new boron-fertilizer.