In this paper, waste flax fibres were used for the removal of heavy metals present
as contaminants in industrial wastewater. Short, tangled flax fibers have no
significant practical application and they are treated as waste. These natural,
biodegradable materials are very interesting for new areas of application, including
the field of water purification. Sorption of heavy metal ions was tested from single
ion solutions, where initial concentrations of heavy metal ions in the solution were
10 mg/L and 25 mg/L. The degree of sorption of heavy metal ions from aqueous
solution of concentration 10 mg/L was in order Pb2+ > Zn2+~Ni2+ > Cu2+ > Cr3+
,
while in the case of sorption from a solution of concentration 25 mg/L was in order
Pb2+ > Zn2+ > Cu2+ > Ni2+ > Cr3+. The results show that flax fibers can be used as
a cheap, environmentally friendly sorbent for sorption of heavy metal ions from
aqueous solution, where the sorption capacity of the fibers depends on the type of
heavy metal and the initial concentration of metal ions in the solution.
