Abstract: A kind of adsorbent prepared from pomelo peels using the zinc chloride activating method was used in laboratory to test its capability of removing Pb²⁺ from wastewater and to study effects of pH of the wastewater,duration of exposure,dosage of the adsorbent,initial concentration of Pb²⁺ in wastewaer,and temperature on the capability,and kinetics and laws of the adsorption as well.Results show that the effects of these factors enumerated above were significant.The optimal conditions for the adsorption were found to be 5.3-6.5 in initial pH of the wastewater,1.5 h in duration of exposure,10 g·L^-1 in dosage of the adsorbent,100 mg·L^-1 in initial Pb²⁺ concentration of the wastewater,and 30℃ in temperature.Under the circumstance,the adsorbent could remove more than 90% of the Pb²⁺ from the wastewater.Its Pb²⁺ adsorption kinetics tallied with the second-order reaction equation and its adsorption isotherm could well be described with the Langmuir,Freundlich and Temkin models.

Key words: pemelo peel, adsorbent, lead ion, adsorption, chemical modification