Horn snail (Telescopium sp) and mud crab (Scylla sp) shells powder as low cost adsorbents for removal of Cu²⁺ from synthetic wastewater

The use of natural materials like horn snail (Telescopium sp) and mud crab (Scylla sp) shells as low cost adsorbents for the removal of heavy metal such as Cu from synthetic wastewater has been developed in this research. The experiments were performed in laboratory scale on the 0.025 L wastewater volume; 0.5 g adsorbent mass; and 0.5; 1; 2; 3; and 4 hours contact time variations. The results obtained showed that equilibrium time for adsorption was 2 hours with adsorption capacity of 4.5868 mg g^-1 with horn snail shell powder and 4.3233 mg g^-1 with mud crab shell powder. The FT-IR analysis result of horn snail shell powder showed that it contained functional groups of C=O and O-H. The FT-IR analysis result of mud crab shell powder showed that it had same functional groups with horn snail shell powder with addition of N-H bending. The peak of wavelength occurred on 324.04 cm^-1 because the formation of complex ion between Cu with functional groups that contained in the adsorbents. The SEM-EDX analysis result of horn snail shell powder showed that there was ion exchanging happened between Ca²⁺ and Cu²⁺.