Evaluation of the Peganum Harmala Plant Stems in the Removal of Total Dissolved Salts from Water

A low-cost and eco-friendly solid-phase extraction sorbent obtained from Peganum harmala stems was developed. It was used for the removal of total dissolved salts (TDS) from non-drinking tap water derived from boreholes. The prepared sorbent was characterized with FT-IR and SEM micrograph. Adsorption parameters were investigated by the batch method. Results showed a significant decrease in TDS by increasing the shaking time. Adsorption kinetics followed the first-order kinetics with a half-life time of 16.1 min. Adsorption isotherm obeyed Freundlich physisorption model with a correlation coefficient of 0.956. Thermodynamic study proved an endothermic adsorption with a heat of adsorption of 8.1 J/mol. Under dynamic mode, results showed a gradual decrease in TDS and reached values of 840, 735 and 802 mg/L for Peganum harmala filter, and commercial sediment and carbon filters, respectively after flowing time of 100 min. Also, passing tap water for three days gave values of 691, 550 and 600 mg /L, respectively. Therefore, the developed Peganum harmala filter conveyed a comparable efficiency to the commercial sediment and carbon filters.