In this study, three agro-waste materials were used as biosorbents for removal of copper (Cu) from water.
This work aims to optimise conditions for preparation of these materials to obtain maximum Cu adsorption
capacity. The optimal conditions were determined in terms of Cu removal efficiency and/or energy
consumption. The results indicate that banana peels dried at 120 C for 2 h and ground into powder form
led to a better performance in terms of both copper removal efficiency and energy consumption. For sugarcane
bagasse and watermelon rind, 120 C was the suitable drying temperature. However, the best drying
time was 1 h for sugarcane bagasse and 3 h for watermelon rind. The powder form with size of