The Utilization of Brewery Spent Grains for the Removal of Cd2+; Ni2+ and Pb2+ from Brewery Effluents: A Case Study of Nigerian Brewery, Kaduna

This study explores the potential use of brewery-spent grains as an effective sorbent for the removal of Cd2+, Ni2+, and Pb2+ from brewery effluents using batch adsorption experiment. The research utilizes Nigerian Brewery, Kaduna, as a case study in order to assess the efficiency of this method. Results obtained revealed that the highest removal efficiency were 99.9 %, 96.5 % and 86.7 % for Pb2+, Ni2+ and Cd2+ with adsorption capacity of 99.9 mgg-1, 19.3 mgg-1 and 17.4 mgg-1 respectively. The removal of the contaminants by the adsorbents was dependent on varying conditions of temperature, pH, contact times, initial concentration and adsorbent dose. Furthermore, Sodium hydroxide treated spent grain demonstrated the best sorbent ability, having the highest efficiency removal of 99.0 %, 98.2 % and 96.5 % with the adsorption capacity of 9.90 mgg-1, 9.82 mgg-1 and 9.65 mgg-1 respectively. Results indicate that brewery-spent grains have a high affinity for the aforementioned heavy metals and can effectively remove them from the effluents. This suggests that brewery-spent grains have the potential to be a cost-effective and environmentally friendly solution for the treatment of brewery effluents. Further research and optimization of this method could lead to its implementation as a sustainable and efficient way to remove heavy metals from industrial wastewater.