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The issue of wastewater is becoming more and more important today because of the new European Union laws leading to even stricter norms. Heavy metals belong to some of the negative elements present in wastewater. Their occurrence in wastewater caused by different industrial processes, such as electroplating, metal finishing, metallurgy, chemical production, mining, and production of paper or batteries, raises many questions because of their toxicity even in small concentrations [1].Sorption of heavy metals is one of the most promising technologies used for the removal of contaminants from water. It is a potential alternative to conventional procedures for its low cost, easy availability, and no nutritional requirements. Sorption minimizes the volume of chemical and/or biological sludge, which must subsequently be disposed of. It is also effective for detoxifying dilute wastewaters. Great attention has recently been paid to sorption of heavy metals from solutions using biological Pol. J. Environ. Stud. Vol. 26, No. 2 (2017) AbstractThe adsorption of selected metals (Cu, Mn, and Fe) from water solution using orange peel was studied by means of batch mechanism. The aim of this study was to determine the dependency of the sorption process on pH of the solution, the initial concentration of the sorbent, contact time, and temperature. The Langmuier and Freundlich isothermal models were used to describe the sorption isotherms of ions. In this case the Langmuier model is more suitable to describe the data. The adsorption efficiency of removing copper (q 20 = 5 mg/g) and manganese (q 20 = 15 mg/g) by using orange peel was approximately 90%. Under optimal conditions, the efficiency of removing iron (q 20 = 10 mg/g) was approximately 55%. When studying the kinetics we discovered that the sorption process will follow the pseudo second-order. The thermodynamic parameters show an exothermic character of sorption, and the processes are spontaneous and favourable. The results indicate that it is possible to use orange peel effectively for removing selected metals from wastewater.

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