The paper projects the potential of agricultural waste Saraca indica leaf powder (SILP) in biosorbing chromium from aqueous system. The influence of pH, contact time, metal concentration, biomass dosage and particle size on the selectivity of the removal process was investigated. The maximum sorption efficiency of SILP for Cr(lll): 85.23% and Cr(VI): 89.67%was found to be pH dependent giving optimum sorption at pH 6.5 and 2.5 respectively. The adsorption process fitted well to both Freundlich and Langmuir isotherms. Morphological changes observed in Scanning Electron Micrographs ofmetal treated biomass confirm the existence of biosorption phenomenon. Fourier Transform Infra-red Spectrometry confirms that amino acid-Cr interactions contribute a significant role in the biosorption of chromium using target leafpowder. The successful applications of easily abundant agricultural waste SILP, as a biosorbent have potential for a low technological pretreatment step, prior to economically not viable high-tech chemical treatments for the removal of Cr from water bodies.

The development of economic and efficient processes for the removal of toxic metals from water bodies has become a priority task for environmentalists. Biosorption processes are tangible alternatives to traditional methodologies, particularly if low metal concentration, large volume and cost are considered. The present communication reports the unexploited sorption properties of the Saraca indica leaf powder (SILP) for the removal of Cd(II) and Ni(II) from aqueous media. Sorption studies using standard practices were carried out in batch experiments as a function of biomass dosage, metal concentration, contact time, particle size and pH. Sorption studies result into the standardization of optimum conditions for the removal of Cd(II) - 92.60% and Ni(II) - 46.20% as follows: biomass dosage (4.0 g), metal concentration (Cd(II) 10 μg/cm3, Ni(ll) 10 μg/cm3) and volume of the test solution (200 cm') at pH 6.5 for Cd(II) and Ni(II). The present study explores for the first time, the efficacy of Saraca indica leaf powder as a novel and environment friendly possibility to remediate heavy metal contaminated water in a cost efficient manner.