Environmentally Friends and Cheap Removal of Some Heavy Metals from Wastewater with Fish Scale Remains

Afrah Abid Maktoof

Abstract: Wastewater samples were collected from the sewage treatment plant in Azdinawiyaregion, south of Nasiriyah district. Fish samples were collected from the Euphrates River in Suq Al-Shuyoukh district, where Cyprinus carpiotypes of fish were collected, weighted 1.5 kg. Heavy metals were measured directly after sampling Zn, Cd, Cu and Pb by Flam automatic absorption. A powder was made of fish scales. The scales were ground after cleaning. The scales were filtered by three types of sieves (250?m, 1mm and 2.36 mm). The ability of fish scales powder to adsorption of trace elements from sewage water was tested, where 50 gm of fish scales powder was placed in a burette, and its adsorption capacity was tested in five times (zero time, 12 hours, 48 hours, 72 hours, and 96 hours). The current study showed that fish scales have ability to adsorb heavy metals in wastewater.

Keywords: Trace Elements, Adsorption, Cyprinus carpio, fish scales