Investigation of Iron and Manganese Removal from Water Sources by Tea Leaves and Rice Straw

High levels of iron and manganese in drinking water cause sediment, turbidity, bad taste and color. As there is a wide area of rice and tea under cultivation in Guilan province with an inevitable production of waste from them, it is possible to use it for removal of undesirable elements. The present study was discontinuously performed on a laboratory scale. The impact of important factors such as pH, contact time, initial concentration, adsorbent dosage and temperature were investigated. Also, using group method of data handling, the adsorption process of the batch method was modeled. The results showed that the highest iron adsorption capacity (in terms of mg/g) for tea leaves and rice straw were 19.44 and 19.99, respectively. Considering manganese, it was 19.86 for tea leaves and 19.49 for rice straw. The best conditions for removing iron and manganese from aqueous solution are at neutral pH, contact time 40-50 minutes, absorbent dose 0.05 g and temperature 25-35 °C for tea leaves and rice straw. Overall, the GMDH model performs better in predicting the final concentrations of iron and manganese in water sources. In general, it can be concluded that rice straw and tea leaves can be used as inexpensive and environmentally friendly natural absorbers in the removal of iron and manganese from water sources.