a b s t r a c t
Uptake for lead, copper, cadmium, nickel and manganese from aqueous solution using the Moringa oleifera
seeds biomass (MOSB) and amine-based ligand (ABL) was investigated. Experiments on two synthetic
multi-solute systems revealed that MOSB performed well in the biosorption and followed the decreasing
orders Pb(II) > Cu(II) > Cd(II) > Ni(II) > Mn(II) and Zn(II) > Cu(II) > Ni(II). The generaltrend ofthe heavy metal
ions uptake by the amine-based ligand followed decreased in the order Mn > Cd > Cu > Ni > Pb, which is
the reverse trend for what was observed for MOSB. Comparing the single- and multi-metal solutions,
there was no clear effect in the biosorption capacity of MOSB suggesting the presence of sufficient active
binding sites for all metal ions studied. The MOSB performance is also not affected by pH in the range
3.5–8.