Experimental study and dynamic simulation of the adsorption of Cd+2 and Pb+2 using the cocoa shell in a fixed-bed column

Using biomass as an adsorbent constitutes a potential alternative for removing heavy metals in industrial wastewater, representing a high environmental risk. In this work, the adsorption of Pb⁺² and Cd⁺² was performed using the cocoa shell as an adsorbent in columns, and the dynamic simulation of the process using the Aspen Adsorption^® V10 software, to validate the simulation results and those obtained experimentally. The simulator and experimental rupture curves converge in almost the entire trajectory, with slight variations in the final stretch of the curve, with the rupture times coinciding for both metals, giving correlation coefficients (R²) of 0.984 and 0.998 for Pb⁺² and Cd^+2, respectively, as well as error values (SSE) less than 5 %. The effect produced by the variation of the bed height and the flow rate in the rupture curves was analyzed; as the bed height increases and the flow rate decreases, the rupture time increases, favoring the adsorption of both metals. The results of this research show the importance of the use of Aspen Adsorption ® software in the biosorption process due to the similarity with experimental results, providing its use saving time and resources.