Investigation of Crawfish (Procambrus Clarkii) Shells for Uptake and Removal of Lead in Water

Abstract

The use of ground crawfish (Procambrus clarkii) shells for the uptake and removal of Pb ions in water was investigated. Using inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectrometry, the samples were analyzed for various concentrations of Pb at three different volumes of 40 mL, 500 mL, and 3000 mL. The results showed that with an increase in volume of water, the capacity to remove Pb by the crawfish exoskeleton shell powder decreased. However, the Pb absorption by the same amount of shell powder in all the phases was good in terms of efficiency. The phase III study (3000 mL of water) showed that 0.5 g of crawfish absorbed the maximum amount of Pb. Moreover, both raw and boiled crawfish shells have almost the same capacity to uptake Pb from water.

Keywords:

• Crawfish shells
• ICP-OES
• Lead
• Uptake

Acknowledgments

Presented, in part, at a poster session at Pittcon ′2010 in Orlando, Florida on February 27–March 5, 2010 and as a poster presentation at the Federation of Analytical Chemistry and Spectroscopy Societies (FACSS) in Raleigh, North Carolina on October 17–21, 2010.

The authors acknowledge the support of the McNeese State University Alumina Endowed Professorship for 2010–2011 to J. Sneddon. This work was supported, in part, by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Admistriation (NOAA).