Characterization and application of plant-based magnetic biomaterial for batch and fixed-bed mode sequestration of lead from synthetic and real effluents

•Developed plant based magnetic sorbent showed high removal performance for Pb2+.•Mag-TOCP was successfully used for removal of Pb2+ from real wastewater.•Electrostatic interaction, complexation and ion-exchange are the main mechanisms.•Mag-TOCP was effectively used in continuous sorption system.

In this study, biomass obtained from Thuja orientalis (T. orientalis) cones was converted to magnetic derivative (Mag-TOCP) and effectively used as a sorbent material for the removal of Pb2+ ions from contaminated solutions. IR, SEM, EDX and zeta potential analysis were employed to analyze the biomaterial modification and sorption mechanism. Batch mode operating conditions were investigated as functions of pH, contact time, Mag-TOCP dose and temperature. Modeling studies showed that equilibrium data were well predicted by the Langmuir isotherm with a monolayer sorption capacity of 1.92 × 10−4 mol g−1 and sorption kinetics was followed by the pseudo-second-order model. It was also observed that Pb2+ biosorption potential of Mag-TOCP did not significantly changed in competitive biosorption conditions. The results imply that the suggested biomaterial may find promising applications for the treatment of lead contaminated solutions.