Application of Herbal Medicine in Cu2+ Removal from Water and Comparison of its Detection Methods

In order to utilize discarded herbal medicine to treat heavy metal pollution in water, various herbal medicines were selected to explore their abilities of metal ions removal. In this experiment, copper ion was used as targeted heavy metal ion and two different treatments of several herbal medicines were compared on the effect of the copper ion removal ability. At the evaluating stage, four metal ion detection methods were employed and analyzed in this herbal medicine Cu2+ removal application. The results showed that directly soaking herbal medicine in the copper aqueous solution was more effective and easier to operate. Iodometry method and EDTA complexometric titration with xylenol orange as indicator were accurate and time-saving in the measurement of copper removal rate. In addition, the EDTA complexometric titration is also applicable in the detection of other metal ions. This experiment provided a basis for the implementation and application of herbal medicine in the deposition of metal ions in polluted water.