Environmental Chemistry Letters (2020) 18:1085–1112

https://doi.org/10.1007/s10311-020-00995-x

REVIEW

Banana peel as a biosorbent for the decontamination of water

pollutants. A review
Kovo G. Akpomie1,2 · Jeanet Conradie1

Received: 23 December 2019 / Accepted: 19 March 2020 / Published online: 6 April 2020
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020

Abstract
Pollution of environmental waters and ecosystems is increasing. Adsorption is an effective technique for water decontamina-
tion, but is limited by the cost of commercial adsorbents such as activated carbon. Research has thus focused on the recycling
and transformation of biowaste as low-cost, biodegradable adsorbents. In particular, banana peel is promising for commercial
use due to its wide availability and efficiency. Here, we review the use of natural banana peel for the biosorption of pollutants
from water. We discuss the factors controlling pollutants removal, and the regeneration and reuse of the biosorbent. pH of 5.0
to 7.0 is favorable for the removal of cationic pollutants, while pH of 2.0 to 4.0 is suitable for anionic pollutants. Generally,
higher pollutant concentration induces lower removal, whereas higher banana peel dosage induces higher removal. Banana
peel exhibits efficient removal of pollutants at various temperatures, with adsorption capacities mostly within 1–100 mg/g.
Nitric acid is the most efficient eluent for heavy metal desorption from banana peel. Most studies showed efficient biosorbent
reuse up to five cycles and above. We also discuss the thermodynamics, kinetics and isotherms of the adsorption process.

Keywords  Adsorption factors · Banana peel · Biosorption models · Reusability · Water treatment

Introduction threat to human health, due to their carcinogenicity and eco-

Due to industrial development across the world and rapid
growth of industries, several toxic waste materials are regu-
larly released into the aquatic environment from industries
(Li et al. 2020). Such pollutants include heavy metals, radio-
active substances, dyes, pesticides, pharmaceuticals, chiral
chemicals as well as oil contaminants (Ahmed and Hameed
2018; Alharbi et al. 2018; Basheer 2018; Eze et al. 2019a,
b; Sarim et al. 2019; Umeh et al. 2019).
It has been reported that there are presently no control-
ling regulations for chemical chiral pollutants, which is dis-
turbing (Basheer 2018). The emerging agro-chiral chemical
market and other chemical contaminants constitute a huge
* Kovo G. Akpomie
kovo.akpomie@unn.edu.ng
* Jeanet Conradie
ConradJ@ufs.ac.za
1
Physical Chemistry Research Laboratory, Department
of Chemistry, University of the Free State, Bloemfontein,
South Africa
2
Department of Pure and Industrial Chemistry, University
of Nigeria, Nsukka, Nigeria
nomic losses associated with them (Basheer and Ali 2018).
Most of these compounds are being used as pesticides, ani-
mal feed additives and medicinal products, thus polluting
water bodies (Taha et al. 2014; Ali et al. 2016a, 2017). Very
low concentrations of some of these chemical substances
in water, as low as 1.0 ng/L, can affect fishes reproduction
ability (Ali et al. 2017). Recently, water pollution from phar-
maceuticals and drug residues has also been increasing at an
alarming rate. They are referred to as emerging pollutants
and are undesirable due to their genetic, hormonal and endo-
crine nature of disturbance (Wharfe et al. 2010; Bahar et al.
2018). Furthermore, some of the pharmaceuticals and drug
pollutants are converted to receptor-specific chiral metabo-
lites, causing serious health effects (Zhou et al. 2018). Phar-
maceutical contaminants in general, when present in the
aqueous environment, build drugs resistance in organisms
(Ahmed and Hameed 2018; Akpomie et al. 2019a).
Heavy metals tend to be non-biodegradable, toxic at cer-
tain levels and bioaccumulate in the environment, leading
to several health effects when in continuous contact with
living organisms (Salim et al. 2015; Jain et al. 2016). They
are essential components of biological systems at very min-
ute concentrations, but become toxic and carcinogenic at

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high concentrations, causing skin lesions, hyperkeratosis,
stomach, kidney, liver and brain problems (Ali et al. 2005,
2013a; Akpomie and Dawodu 2014; Gu et al. 2019). Poly-
cyclic aromatic hydrocarbons present in crude oil fractions
are also toxic at certain concentrations (Allan et al. 2012;
Akpomie et al. 2018a; Eze et al. 2019a). Dyes tend to pol-
lute the aquatic system, can be carcinogenic, difficult to
degrade using biological methods and give an undesirable
color to water (Crini et al. 2019a; Dawodu et al. 2019; Xu
et al. 2020). Dyes released from industrial effluents into
water bodies such as ponds, lakes and rivers prevent the
penetration of natural radiation to the water base. This sig-
nificantly affects plant photosynthesis, causing undesirable
aquatic anaerobic conditions (Ali et al. 2018a; Mashkoor
et al. 2020). Also, radioactive elements present in the aquatic
environment are harmful, even in small amounts, and highly
toxic (Oyewo et al. 2016; Wang and Zhuang 2019). There-
fore, the necessity to remove these contaminants from the
environment cannot be overemphasized.
Many researchers have harnessed different removal
techniques for these pollutants, such as filtration, solvent
extraction, coagulation, sedimentation, membrane separa-
tion, evaporation, reverse osmosis, electrocoagulation, ion
exchange, precipitation, advanced oxidation, skimming,
chelation, reduction, photo-catalysis, dispersion, use of
solidifiers, nanofiltration, irradiation, coalescers, ozonation,
electrophoresis, lime softening, as well as adsorption (Ali
and Aboul–Enein 2002; Anwar et al. 2010; Barakat 2011;
Amel et al. 2012; Rein 2013; Silva et al. 2013; Yousaf and
Sajjad 2015; Souza et al. 2016; Ali 2018; Ali et al. 2018b, c,
d, 2019a, b; Ezekoye et al. 2020). The most commonly used
water decontamination methods are presented in Table 1.
More detailed descriptions of the advantages and disadvan-
tages of pollutant removal techniques have been reported
(Crini and Lichtfouse 2019).
Most of these methods are expensive, complicated, need
skilled personnel and recorded only low removal efficiencies
(Amel et al. 2012; Alaa El–Din et al. 2018). The adsorption
technique among all these methods is the most efficient, and
the activated carbon is the most widely applied adsorbent for
the decontamination of pollutants from water, which can be
attributed to its chemical resistance, large pore volume and
large surface area (Zhou et al. 2017a; Kuroki et al. 2019; Sal-
eem et al. 2019; Ani et al. 2020). However, its high cost has
limited the application of activated carbon for the adsorp-
tion of pollutants. Hence, there is a need for other low-cost
adsorbents with high adsorption capacity.
Several natural as well as synthesized adsorbents have
been used as viable alternatives, such as clays (Akpomie
et al. 2019b; Gu et al. 2019), metal organic frameworks
(Song and Jhung 2017; Yang et al. 2019), biochars (Dai et al.
2019; Wang et al. 2019), carbon nanotubes (Sarkar et al.
2018; Mashkoor et al. 2020), inorganic materials (Zhou et al.
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Environmental Chemistry Letters (2020) 18:1085–1112
2015; Umeh et al. 2019), chitosan-based materials (Kyzas
and Bikiaris 2015; Vakili et al. 2019), polymeric materials
(de Sá et al. 2017; Karoyo et al. 2018), as well as various
nanomaterials (Sadegh et al. 2017; Awad et al. 2020). These
materials, although efficient, mostly require expensive chem-
ical enhancement, complex and expensive synthetic proce-
dures, generate secondary contamination, have a high cost of
regeneration/reusability and are non-biodegradable. Viewed
critically, they may not even be efficient for large-scale com-
mercial applications due to these limitations.
On the other hand, biosorption using waste biomass mate-
rials is most preferred because of their low cost, simplicity,
biodegradability and environmental friendliness (Ali et al.
2011, 2019c, d, e; Ashraf et al. 2014; Nodeh et al. 2016;
Chukwuemeka–okorie et al. 2018; Carvalho et al. 2018;
Al–Shaalan et al. 2019; Crini et al. 2019a, b). In this regard,
waste biomass materials have gained wide attention by sev-
eral researchers for the adsorption of pollutants from the
aqueous stream (Renu et al. 2017; Chen et al. 2018; Diag-
boya and Dikio 2018; Escudero et al. 2019). Efficient biosor-
bents have been tested, such as cassava waste, rice husk,
banana peel, potato peel, corn cob, maize leaf, microbial
biomass, cocoa pod, groundnut husk, sugarcane bagasse,
orange peel, oil palm waste, coconut husk, jute fiber, just
to mention a few (Gautam et al. 2014; Anastopoulos et al.
2019; Beni and Esmaeili 2020; Singh et al. 2020).
Banana (Musa species) peel waste is of particular inter-
est among all these biosorbents, because its food crop is
widely grown in different countries and consumed world-
wide (world second largest fruit crop), so the peel waste is a
readily available, underutilized, very efficient biosorbent and
can easily be harnessed for commercial application (Padam
et al. 2014; Khawas et al. 2018). Increasingly, banana peel
has been widely utilized as an efficient waste for the decon-
tamination of waters polluted by heavy metals (Annadurai
et al. 2002a, b; Salim et al. 2015; Vilardi et al. 2018), radio-
active elements (Oyewo et al. 2016), crude oil (Aliyu et al.
2015; Alaa El–Din et  al. 2018), pharmaceuticals (Silva
et al. 2013; De–Sousa et al. 2019), dyes (de–Carvalho et al.
2015; Mondal and Kar 2018; Stavrinou et al. 2018), fluo-
ride (Bhaumik and Mondal 2016; Mondal 2017), phenolic
compounds (Achak et al. 2009) and aflatoxins (Shar et al.
2016). In addition, various derivative adsorbents, derived
from banana peel by chemical, thermal or physical modifi-
cations, have also been developed and showed an improved
removal of various pollutants (Thirumavalavan et al. 2011;
Amel et al. 2012; Chaparadza and Hossenlopp 2012; Foo
et al. 2013; Massocatto et al. 2013; Zheng and Wang 2013;
Gautam et al. 2014; Liu et al. 2014; Mahmoud et al. 2014;
Ali and Saeed 2015, 2016; Pathak and Mandavgane 2015;
Getachew et  al. 2015; DeMessie et  al. 2015; Ma et  al.
2015; Mohammad et al. 2015; Yousaf and Sajjad 2015; Ali
et al. 2016b; Al–Qahtani 2016; Hashem and Amin 2016;
 Table 1  Techniques for the decontamination of polluted waters
Method Characteristics and advantages
Electrochemical treatment (i) Involves efficient techniques such as electro-
flotation, electrodeposition and electrocoagula-
tion, (ii) effective due to the involvement of
adsorption, coagulation, reduction and oxidation
mechanisms in the removal process, (iii) does
not require the addition of chemicals, thus
reducing secondary chemical contamination,
(iv) can be tailored for the removal of suspended
solids, (v) quite eco-friendly due to the produc-
tion of a lower amount of sludge in comparison
to coagulation, (vi) average pollutant selectivity
Chemical coagulation/flocculation (i) Very effective in treatment of suspended solids (i) Not efficient for removal of heavy metals from
and hydrophobic colloids, (ii) capable of bacte-
rial inactivation, (iii) very efficient dewatering
and sludge settling characteristics
Chemical precipitation (i) Inexpensive process, (ii) very simple to oper-
ate, (iii) ability to decontaminate most pollutants cals to improve the efficiency, (ii) generates
Flotation (i) Simplicity of process, (ii) rapid and good
separation yield, (iii) applicability to wide range
of pollutants, (iv) pollutant selectivity, (v) pro-
duces only small volume of high-density sludge,
enabling easy dewatering
Ion exchange (i) Rapid and efficient removal of pollutants, (ii)
easy regeneration and reusability
Membrane filtration (i) High removal efficiency, (ii) easy operation,
(iii) small space requirement, (iv) involves vari-
ety of efficient membranes like ultrafiltration,
reverse osmosis, electrodialysis and nanofiltra-
tion, depending on the target pollutant, (v) low
generation of solid waste (low consumption of
chemicals)
13
Disadvantages References
(i) Very expensive due to high initial capital cost, Chen (2004), Al–Shannag et al. (2015), Widhiastuti
large power supply requirement or operating et al. (2018), Zambrano and Min (2020)
costs, (ii) some of the processes are associated
with hydrogen generation, (iii) involves filtration
for treatment of produced flocs, which increases
the cost, (iv) requires skilled personnel
El–Samrani et al. (2008), Gautam et al. (2014),
water, (ii) associated with high operating cost Tang et al. (2016), Teh et al. (2016)
due to large quantity of chemicals used, (iii)
Environmental Chemistry Letters (2020) 18:1085–1112
generates huge amount of flocs requiring treat-
ments with other techniques
(i) Sometimes requires addition of other chemi- Xanthopoulos et al. (2017), Balladares et al. (2018),
Vardhan et al. (2019)
large volumes of low density sludge, causing
disposal and dewatering challenges, (iii) high
cost involved in maintenance and disposal of
sludge, (iv) may need to employ other treatment
techniques in sludge management
(i) Associated with very high operating and main- Rubio et al. (2002), Mohammed et al. (2013),
tenance costs, (ii) requires high initial capital Kyzas and Matis (2018)
cost, (iii) may be ineffective at certain pollutant
concentrations
(i) Main application is for metals removal and Shaidan et al. (2012), Edebali and Pehlivan (2016),
limited in the removal of other pollutants, Abbasi et al. (2018), Lalmi et al. (2018), Vardhan
(ii) chemicals used for regeneration of resins et al. (2019)
produce secondary contaminants, (iii) requires
large amount of resins to low concentration of
pollutants in large volume of water, (iv) high
initial and operating cost
(i) Associated with membrane fouling, (ii) high Huang et al. (2010), Gautam et al. (2014), Abdi
operating and power costs, (iii) low permeation et al. (2018), Choudhury et al. (2018), Jana et al.
flux, (iv) sometimes limited in flow rate (2018)
1087


Table 1  (continued)
1088

Method Characteristics and advantages Disadvantages References

13
Magnetic separation (i) Very efficient for decontamination of magnetic (i) Very limited, since it only applies to magnetic Ambashta and Sillanpaa (2010), Horst et al. (2016),
pollutants, (ii) highly selective for magnetic metallic pollutants, (ii) requires creation of Ko et al. (2017)
contaminants in the presence of non-magnetic large magnetic field for pollutant attraction, (iii)
ones, (iii) easily operated is sometimes combined with other treatment
techniques, in order to be efficient
Bioremediation (i) Low-cost process, utilizing biological systems (i) Might create unfavorable microbial contamina- Head (1998), Ali et al. (2013b), Sarwar et al.
(mostly microorganisms) for pollutant removal, tion in the treated water system, (ii) sometimes (2017), Vardhan et al. (2019)
(ii) very effective in using phytoremediation and requires combination of other treatment tech-
microbe assisted bioremediation techniques, (iii) niques to be efficient, (iii) might be constrained
simplicity of process for industrial application, due to low biomass
generation and time consumption
Solvent extraction (i) Can be applied in large-scale processes involv- (i) High capital cost required, (ii) sometimes uti- Mansur (2011), Crini and Lichtfouse (2019)
ing high pollutant load, (ii) easy extraction and lizes toxic solvents and large volumes of organic
stripping operations, (iii) extractant recyclability, extractants, (iii) uneconomical for pollutant
(iv) good selectivity and efficiency for removal concentrations less than 0.5 g/L
of certain pollutants, such as heavy metals and
phenol
Photo-catalytic degradation (i) Generates less harmful byproducts, (ii) very (i) Requires long time duration, (ii) high initial Barakat (2011), Teixeira et al. (2016), Crini and
efficient for degradation of dyes and organic pol- and operating costs, (iii) application limited to Lichtfouse (2019), Kiwaan et al. (2020), Onkani
lutants, (iii) simultaneous removal of pollutants, non-organic pollutants, (iv) sometimes requires et al. (2020)
(iv) simplicity of process combination of other treatment techniques
Adsorption (i) Highly efficient decontamination of a wide (i) Efficiency depends on the type of adsorbent Gautam et al. (2014), Vardhan et al. (2019), Crini
variety of pollutants, compared to other treat- used, (ii) chemical or physical activation might and Lichtfouse (2019), Yazidi et al. (2019), Rios
ment techniques, (ii) high uptake capacity and be required to improve the adsorption capacity, et al. (2020)
fast kinetics of removal, (iii) selectivity of pol- (iii) regeneration and reusability depends on the
lutant, (iv) involves several removal mechanisms nature of adsorbent and might be expensive, (iv)
taking place simultaneously in the process, (v) mostly utilizes activated carbon for commercial
simplicity of application, (vi) efficient regenera- water treatment, which is expensive, (v) adsor-
tion and reusability, (vii) relatively inexpensive bent may not be biodegradable
technique
Biosorption (i) All the advantages of adsorption listed above, (i) Might require physical or chemical modifica- Adeniyi and Ighalo (2019), Bashir et al. (2019), de
(ii) biomaterials are readily available and very tion to improve the adsorption capacity, (ii) Freitas et al. (2019), Beni and Esmaeili (2020),
low cost, (iii) biodegradable, (iv) contributes to replacement, regeneration or incineration may Ezekoye et al. (2020)
waste recycling, (v) good potential for commer- be required to either reuse or eliminate the con-
cial application taminated adsorbent
Environmental Chemistry Letters (2020) 18:1085–1112
Environmental Chemistry Letters (2020) 18:1085–1112 1089
Prachpreecha et al. 2016; Kong et al. 2016; Li et al. 2016;
Gautam and Khan 2016; Nowicki et al. 2016; Gupta and
Gupta 2016; Ashraf et al. 2017; Zhou et al. 2017a, b; Thuan
et al. 2017; Ingole et al. 2017; Ahmad and Danish 2018).
However, in view of implementing banana peel as a prac-
tical biosorbent on a commercial basis for the economic
treatment of contaminated waters, the modified derivatives
would be undesirable due to the higher cost, requirement of
skilled personnel and apparatus, and could produce second-
ary contaminants noxious to the environment. Therefore,
adequate studies on the use of natural banana peel would be
beneficial in terms of the need for commercial application of
this biosorbent for efficient water decontamination.
Although quite a number of reviews describing the poten-
tial for water treatment of banana peel alongside other bio-
adsorbents and their modified derivates for water treatment
are available (Demirbas 2008; Ahmad and Danish 2018;
Doshi et al. 2018; Crini et al. 2019b; Vardhan et al. 2019),
this review focuses solely on the viability of natural banana
peel for water decontamination, in order to help advance its
commercialization. For optimal water treatment, the influ-
ence of several process factors has to be understood, such as
water pH, temperature, time of contact, dosage of biosorbent
and pollutant concentration (Nikiforova and Kozlov 2011;
Iftekhar et al. 2018; Karimi et al. 2019). Also equilibrium
isotherm, kinetics and thermodynamics are important, in
order to provide information on the affinity between the
pollutant and banana peel, which is useful in reactor design
applications (Foo and Hameed 2010; Dawodu and Akpomie
2014; Ayawei et al. 2017). Biosorbent regeneration and reus-
ability is an important characteristic of an efficient mate-
rial with prospects for commercial application (Gautam
et al. 2014; Vakili et al. 2019). In this review, we therefore
consider the influence of processing factors, equilibrium
mechanisms, as well as reusability of natural banana peel
for pollutant decontamination, in a quest to provide adequate
knowledge in advancing the possible application of this eco-
friendly material for commercial use.
Characterization of the banana peel
biosorbent
Characterization of materials as adsorbent for pollutant
removal is important, as it helps to relate the properties of
the adsorbent and its adsorption affinity for various con-
taminants. In the literature, the major characterizations per-
formed for biomass materials as adsorbents are the Fourier
transform infrared (FTIR), Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET)
surface area (­ SBET), scanning electron microscopy (SEM)
and powdered X-ray diffraction (PXRD) analysis. Other
analyses sometimes included are the point of zero charge
(pHpzc) and the proximate and elemental analysis. The
literature on the use of banana peel as biosorbent showed
the proximate and elemental composition of the biomaterial
(Tables 2 and 3). The BET surface area of banana peel was
low, as expected, which is characteristic of most agro- or
carbonaceous materials (Garcia–Reyes and Rangel–Men-
dez 2010; Castro et al. 2011; Eze et al. 2019b). However,
low surface area does not necessarily imply low adsorption
potential of a material.
The FTIR provides important information on the sur-
face functional groups utilized by biosorbents for pollutants
abstraction. The FTIR of banana peel is presented in Fig. 1
and showed the presence of O–H, N–H, C–H, C=O, C=C,
C–N, C–O and C–H vibrations on the surface (Salim et al.
2015; Stavrinou et al. 2018), thereby providing sufficient
surface functionality for pollutant interaction. Similarly, sur-
face porosity of biosorbent is necessary for efficient entrap-
ment of the pollutant in the pores of the biomass and this is
examined through SEM analysis. The representative SEM
morphology of banana peel obtained by Alaa El–Din et al.
(2018) is shown in Fig. 2. A porous and irregular surface
morphology was obtained, which is desirable for efficient
adsorption. Various researchers also observed an irregular
rough surface structure and a porous morphology of banana
peel, indicating efficient potentials of banana peel for decon-
tamination of pollutants from water (De–Carvalho et al.
2015; Ali et al. 2016b; Chen et al. 2018).
The PXRD of banana peel is seldom carried out by
researchers, since banana peel is mainly a carbonaceous
material. However, the PXRD of banana peel by Stavrinou
et al. (2018) showed an organic matter hump in the diffrac-
tion pattern, as well as potassium chloride (KCl), silicon
dioxide ­(SiO2) and magnesium chloride ­(MgCl2) (Fig. 3).
This is somewhat in agreement with the elemental compo-
sition in Table 3 where Mg, Ca and K were detected by
Silva et al. (2013) and Cl, K and Si were recorded by Achak
et al. (2009). Cl and Si were also significantly detected in the
energy-dispersive X-ray (EDX) of banana peel by Memon
et al. (2009). On the other hand, the PXRD characterized
by Jawad et al. (2018) revealed an amorphous structure,
based on broad diffraction bands. They obtained two bands
at 2θ = 24o (0.02) and 42° (101) which can be attributed to
crystalline carbon, with an expanded lattice due to the pres-
ence of impurities.
Influence of process pH on banana peel
biosorption of pollutants
Pollutant biosorption from water strongly depends on the pH
of the solution, which is a significant factor to be considered
in abstraction studies (Ali et al. 2019f). The charge on the
biosorbent surface and the extent of speciation (distribution)
or ionization of the pollutant is greatly influenced by the
13

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13
Table 2  Physiochemical characterizations of banana peel biosorbent
Moisture content Ash content Crude fiber Cellulose Hemicelluloses lignin Crude protein Organic carbon Pectin pHpzc SBET ­(m2/g) Pore Total pore References
diameter volume
(nm) ­(cm3/g)

2.98 17.9 10.33 – – – – – – – – – – Mondal (2017)

– – 14 14 – 9.6 8.7 48 – – – – – Silva et al. (2013)
– – – – – – – – – – 20 1.05 – Castro et al. (2011)
– – – 3.62 31.06 – 24.7 – 24.7 – – – – Thirumavalavan
et al. (2011)
– – – – – – – – – 6.54 – – – Stavrinou et al.
(2018)
3.50 4.97 – – – – – 55.54 – – 1.73 36.88 0.00288 Jawad et al. (2018)
6.1 – – – – – – – – 6.2 – – 0.0032 Bhaumik and Mon-
dal (2016)
13.55 3.85 – – – – – 31.79 – – – – – Achak et al. (2009)
9.6 19.0 11.0 10.10 13 Memon et al. (2009)
– – – – – – – – – – 0.026 44.614 0.003 Ma et al. (2015)
– – – – – – – – – – 18.6 3.49 0.02 do Nascimento et al.
(2016)

Data in % (w/w), dry basis, except given otherwise

Environmental Chemistry Letters (2020) 18:1085–1112
Environmental Chemistry Letters (2020) 18:1085–1112 1091

Table 3  Elemental composition of banana peel biosorbent

Rb N Si P Al K Ca Cl Mg S B O Cu Fe Mn Zn Na References

– 1.16 – 0.19 – 4.9 0.23 – 0.13 0.44 24* – 3.8* 45* 150* 19* – Silva et al. (2013)
– 2.08 – – – – – – – 0.19 – 37.95 – – – – – Jawad et al. (2018)
– – 1.48 – 1.05 14.86 – 3.22 – – – 42.87 – – – – 1.33 Achak et al. (2009)
2.1* – – – – 781* 192* – – – – – – 6.1* 762* – 243* Khawas et al. (2018)

Data in % (w/w), dry basis

*
 In mg/Kg

solution pH (Dawodu and Akpomie 2014). The dependence

Fig. 1  a Fourier transform infrared spectra (FTIR) of both untreated
banana peel ­(BPPU) and treated banana peel ­(BPPT), showing the
presence of various functional groups responsible for the adsorption
of Pb(II) and Cu(II) ions (Adapted from Salim et  al. (2015) copy-
right@2015, Balaban Desalination Publications. All rights reserved).
b FTIR spectra of banana peel (BP) in comparison with potato peel
(PP) and cucumber peel (CP). These three adsorbents all displayed
similar and sufficient functional groups, which cause the adsorption.
Banana peel shows an additional C–O stretching at 1370 cm−1, indi-
cating potent surface interaction with the dyes: orange G and methyl-
ene blue (Reproduced with permission from Stavrinou et  al. (2018)
copyright@2018, Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved)
of pH on a certain pollutant adsorption target is related to the
hydrolysis, redox potentials, as well as ligand complexation
of the specific pollutants (Fiol et al. 2006).
The influence of process pH on the sequestration of vari-
ous pollutants from water, utilizing banana peel biomass, is
presented in Table 4. For heavy metals, uranium and tho-
rium removal, many researchers recorded a general increas-
ing trend in the biosorption of metals, with increasing pH.
This is because these species exist as positively charged
ions in solution; therefore, at a low solution pH, the high
concentration of H­ + ions and the heavy metal cations are in
high competition for adsorbent surface, leading to low metal
removal. However, as the pH increases, the concentration
of H+ ions decreases progressively and the surface charge
of the biosorbent becomes negative, favoring the uptake of
the positively charged metallic species (Memon et al. 2008;
Abbasi et al. 2013; Ali and Saeed 2015; Sabanovic et al.
2015; Chen et al. 2018). Therefore, more active sites become
available on the banana peel surface at higher pH values,
resulting in more efficient removal of the heavy metals from
solution. However, irrespective of high removal percent-
ages of metals at high pH values, especially in the alkaline
regions, yet the alkaline pH ranges are seldom selected for
this process, due to metal precipitation in the form of the
associated insoluble hydroxide species (Yadav et al. 2013;
Dawodu and Akpomie 2014).
However, a contrary pattern was obtained for the biosorp-
tion of the metal Cr(VI) ion onto banana peel biomass by
Memon et al. (2009), in which decreased biosorption with
increasing pH was observed instead, with optimum adsorp-
tion noted at pH 2.0 (Table 4). That study explains that the
pH influence on Cr(VI) biosorption is dependent on the
functional group type and ionic state on the banana peel
surface, as well as Cr(VI) speciation (distribution). This is
mainly attributed to the fact that chromium, unlike the other
metals, exists as negatively charged ionic species in solu-
tion (Tran et al. 2019). There is a coexistence of different
forms of negatively charged chromium species, in the acidic
pH range from pH 1.0 to 6.5, such as ­HCrO4−, ­Cr2O72−,
­Cr4O132− and ­Cr3O102−, which is mainly predominated by
the ­HCrO4− species. Also, under strong acidic conditions,

13

1092
Fig.2  Scanning electron
microscopy (SEM) images
of banana peel biosorbent
shows an irregular porous sur-
face structure, which enhances
oil penetration into the internal
structure, enabling efficient
decontamination of oil-polluted
water (Alaa El–Din et al. 2018)
Fig. 3  Powdered X-ray diffraction (PXRD) of banana peel (BP),
potato peel (PP) and cucumber peel (CP) (peaks A: KCl, B: S ­ iO2,
C: ­MgCl2, D: ­K2SO4). Banana peel shows a similar composition as
potato peel (Reproduced with permission from Stavrinou et al. (2018)
copyright@2018, Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)
­H2CrO4 is formed (Tran et al. 2019). At more alkaline solu-
tions of pH > 6.5, the chromate anionic species ­(CrO42−) are
dominant (Pradhan et al. 2017). Therefore, the high removal
percentage at low pH is attributed to efficient interaction
between the positively charged banana peel surface and
negatively charged chromium species. As the pH increases,
however, competition between the negatively charged chro-
mium species and increasing concentration of hydroxyl ions
in solution leads to a decreased uptake of chromium, since
the increasing surface negative charge on banana peel repels
the negatively charged Cr species, thus reducing the uptake.
Furthermore, biosorbed Cr(VI) ions on banana peel surface
are reduced to Cr(III) ions by reducing substances on banana
peel (nucleic acid, glycoproteins, polysaccharides and
13
Environmental Chemistry Letters (2020) 18:1085–1112
glucolipids) causing a decrease in the amount of chromium
adsorbed (Memon et al. 2009; Feng et al. 2018). Most other
studies on Cr(VI) biosorption also recorded a similar pattern
(Gupta and Rastogi 2009; Kaya et al. 2014; Kan et al. 2017).
The same trend was also obtained by Ali et al. (2016b) on
the biosorption of Cr(VI) ions, using acrylonitrile-grafted
banana peel biosorbent.
For the biosorption of dyes onto banana peel, their
dependence on solution pH is strongly influenced by the
cationic or anionic classification of the specific dye (Afronze
and Sen 2018). Cationic dyes such as methylene blue and
methyl violet are usually biosorbed minimally at low pH
and exhibit increased adsorption with increasing pH. This
biosorption increase is usually attributed to decreased com-
petition for banana peel surface between cationic dye mol-
ecules and ­H+ ions in solution with pH increase (Amel et al.
2012; Stavrinou et al. 2018; Jawad et al. 2018). The pHpzc
(pH value at the point of zero charge) of banana peel was
obtained as 6.54 and 6.2 (Table 2) (Bhaumik and Mondal
2016; Stavrinou et al. 2018), while values of pHpzc = 5.5
and 2.41 were recorded by Shar et al. (2016) and Palma
et al. (2011), respectively. Shar et al. (2016) stated that the
different pHpzc obtained could possibly be due to different
stages of ripening and different banana species used. The
claim could not be verified from our study, since the vari-
ous works available on the use of banana peel for biosorp-
tion did not provide information on the stages of ripening
as well as the banana species used. However, other studies
have been reported which showed differences in composi-
tions or surface properties of banana peel with ripening,
maturity and climate variations (Bonnet et al. 2013; Khawas
and Deka 2016). The ripening of fruits is generally asso-
ciated with a slight increase in lipid and protein content,
a decrease in hemicelluloses and starch, and an increase
in soluble sugar (Mohapatra et al. 2010); therefore, varia-
tions in chemical composition and surface properties would
be expected during ripening (Yan et al. 2016; Monteiro
Environmental Chemistry Letters (2020) 18:1085–1112 1093

Table 4  Most effective pH for Pollutant pH range studied Optimum pH References

the removal of pollutants from
water, utilizing natural banana Metals
peel biosorbent, for adsorption
Cadmium(II) 1.0–9.0 3.0 Anwar et al. (2010)
of metals, dyes and some other
pollutants Cadmium(II) 1.0–9.0 8.0 Memon et al. (2008)
Cadmium(II) 1.0–7.0 5.0 Chen et al. (2018)
Cadmium(II) 5.0–10.0 8.0–9.0 Sabanovic et al. (2015)
Chromium(III) 5.0–10.0 8.0–9.0 Sabanovic et al. (2015)
Chromium(VI) 1.0–9.0 2.0 Memon et al. (2009)
Chromium(VI) 2.0–12.0 6.0 Ali and Saeed (2015)
Cobalt(II) 1.5–7.5 6.66 Annadurai et al. (2002a)
Cobalt(II) 1.0–6.0 5.5 Abbasi et al. (2013)
Cobalt(II) 5.0–10.0 8.0–9.0 Sabanovic et al. (2015)
Copper(II) 1.5–7.5 5.92 Annadurai et al. (2002a)
Copper(II) 1.04–9.06 9.06 Salim et al. (2015)
Copper(II) 1.0–5.0 5.0 Castro et al. (2011)
Copper(II) 2.0–8.0 4.0–6.0 Thirumavalavan et al. (2011)
Iron(III) 5.0–10.0 8.0–9.0 Sabanovic et al. (2015)
Lead(II) 1.01–9.05 7.02 Salim et al. (2015)
Lead(II) 1.0–5.0 5.0 Castro et al. (2011)
Lead(II) 1.0–9.0 5.0 Memon et al. (2008)
Lead(II) 5.0–10.0 8.0–9.0 Sabanovic et al. (2015)
Lead(II) 1.5–7.5 5.89 Annadurai et al. (2002a)
Manganese(II) 2.0–12.0 6.0 Ali and Saeed (2015)
Manganese(II) 5.0–10.0 8.0–9.0 Sabanovic et al. (2015)
Nickel(II) 1.5–7.5 6.89 Annadurai et al. (2002a)
Nickel(II) 1.0–6.0 5.5 Abbasi et al. (2013)
Nickel(II) 5.0–10.0 8.0–9.0 Sabanovic et al. (2015)
Strontium(II) 2.0–12.0 5.0 Mahindrakar and Rathod (2018)
Zinc(II) 1.5–7.5 6.54 Annadurai et al. (2002a)
Dyes
Amido black 10B 4.0–10.0 6.0–7.0 Annadurai et al. (2002b)
Congo red 3.0–10.0 3.0 Munagapati et al. (2018)
Congo red 3.0–12.0 10.0 Mondal and Kar (2018)
Congo red 4.0–10.0 6.0–7.0 Annadurai et al. (2002b)
Methyl orange 4.0–10.0 6.0–7.0 Annadurai et al. (2002b)
Methyl violet 4.0–10.0 6.0–7.0 Annadurai et al. (2002b)
Methylene blue 6.3–6.9 – Ma et al. (2015)
Methylene blue 2.0–10.0 4.0–8.0 Amel et al. (2012)
Methylene blue 2.0–9.0 9.0 Stavrinou et al. (2018)
Methylene blue 3.0–12.0 10.0 Jawad et al. (2018)
Methylene blue 4.0–10.0 6.0–7.0 Annadurai et al. (2002b)
Orange G 2.0–9.0 2.0 Jawad et al. (2018)
Orange II 6.3–6.9 – Ma et al. (2015)
Remazol golden yellow 2.0–10.0 2.0 do Nascimento et al. (2016)
Reactive black 5 3.0–10.0 3.0 Munagapati et al. (2018)
Reactive gray 2.0–10.0 2.0 do Nascimento et al. (2016)
Reactive turquoise 2.0–10.0 2.0 do Nascimento et al. (2016)
Rhodamine B 2.0–10.0 2.0 Oyekanmi et al. (2019)
Rhodamine B 4.0–10.0 6.0–7.0 Annadurai et al. (2002b)
Other pollutants
Aflatoxins 3.0–9.0 7.0–9.0 Shar et al. (2016)
Benzoic acid 2.0–11.0 3.68 Pathak et al. (2016)

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Table 4  (continued) Pollutant pH range studied Optimum pH References

Cyanide 1.0–8.0 8.0 Abbas et al. (2014)

Estrone 2.0–10.0 4.0 de Sousa et al. (2019)
Ethinylestradiol 2.0–10.0 6.0 de Sousa et al. (2019)
Fluoride 2.0–10.0 4.0 Mondal (2017)
Fluoride 2.0–12.0 6.0 Mohammad and Majumder (2014)
Fluoride 3.0–10.0 6.0 Bhaumik and Mondal (2016)
Phenol 2.0–11.0 7.0 Achak et al. (2009)
Phenol 2.0–11.0 7.0 Mandi et al. (2009)
Phenol 2.0–10.0 8.0 Ali and Saeed (2016)
Salicylic acid 2.0–11.0 3.3 Pathak et al. (2016)
Sulfamethoxazole 2.0–10.0 4.0 de Sousa et al. (2019)
Thorium 2.0–10.0 8.0 Oyewo et al. (2016)
Uranium 2.0–10.0 6.0 Oyewo et al. (2016)

et al. 2018; Maduwanthi and Marapana 2019). In addition,
researchers have also discovered variations in composition
of banana peel with different banana species, varieties or
cultivars (Sulaiman et al. 2011; Babu et al. 2012; Narayana
et al. 2017).
The differences in composition would also affect the sur-
face properties such as pHpzc. This parameter is an impor-
tant property of a biosorbent, because at pH values lower
than the pHpzc value at point of zero charge, the anionic pol-
lutant uptake will be enhanced, while pH values greater than
pHpzc would favor cationic pollutant biosorption (Ezekoye
et al. 2020). The reason for this could be attributed to the fact
that at lower pH < pHpzc, the banana peel surface is posi-
tively charged favoring anions, while at higher pH > pHpzc,
the surface becomes negatively charged favoring cations
instead (Akpomie et al. 2015). In this regard, anionic dyes
such as orange G, methyl orange, reactive gray, amido black
10, remazol golden yellow, congo red and reactive turquoise
are expected to give better adsorption at acidic pH values, in
contrast to cationic dyes, but contrary results on banana peel
biosorption of dyes were recorded by some researchers. This
was significantly noticed in the biosorption of rhodamine
B (cationic) by Oyekanmi et al. (2019) and biosorption of
congo red (anionic) by Mondal and Kar (2018) (Table 4).
Also Annadurai et al. (2002b) recorded an optimum biosorp-
tion pH of 6.0–7.0 for all cationic and anionic dyes studied.
These deviations are therefore not consistent with the other
studies from the literature (Zulfikar et al. 2015; Suc and Chi
2017; Uner et al. 2017; Farias et al. 2018; Lafi et al. 2019;
Litefti et al. 2019; Nakhjiri et al. 2019; Raj et al. 2019),
and no suitable reason was provided by these researchers
for such deviations. However, Shar et al. (2016) attributed
the decrease in rhodamine B uptake with increasing pH to
the formation of a zwitterion form of the dye, which forms
larger molecules, thus hindering the penetration of these
dyes into the surface pores of the biosorbent for efficient
interaction. This was supported by some other researchers
(Ding et al. 2014; Inyinbor et al. 2017).
Furthermore, the biosorption of pharmaceuticals on
banana peel biomass by de Sousa et al. (2016) showed an
irregular trend in terms of pH dependence, but the natural
pH of 6.0 for the existence of drugs in solution was chosen
for practical applications. Achak et al. (2009) and Shar et al.
(2016) reported an increase in the biosorption of phenolic
compounds and aflatoxins with an increase in pH, while a
decreasing trend was obtained for fluoride biosorption by
Mondal (2017).
Effect of banana peel dosage and time
of contact
Pollutant removal from aqueous media is strongly dependent
on the dosage of biosorbent presented, since it influences the
number of binding sites available on the biosorbent surface,
interacting with the pollutant in water (Li et al. 2011; Chuk-
wuemeka–okorie et al. 2018). Therefore, biosorbent dosage
is always considered in most adsorption studies reported in
the literature. Although some of the studies on the use of
banana peel for abstraction of pollutants did not consider this
factor, other reports generally noticed an increase in percent-
age biosorption of pollutants such as Pb, Cu, Cr(VI), oil and
methylene blue with an increase in banana peel dosage, with
no significant biosorption increase after a certain banana
peel dosage, as noticed by some researchers (Salim et al.
2015; Ali et al. 2016b; Alaa El–Din et al. 2018; Jawad et al.
2018; Stavrinou et al. 2018). This improved adsorption was
attributed to an increasing amount of biosorptive sites on
banana peel, thus removing more pollutants from water. A
higher dosage of banana peel provided more active sites for
feasible interaction with the pollutants in solution (Akpomie
et al. 2018a; Ani et al. 2019). Jawad et al. (2018) attributed

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Environmental Chemistry Letters (2020) 18:1085–1112 1095
the constant biosorption percentage obtained after a particu-
lar dosage, to the agglomeration of banana peel particles,
thus reducing the effective adsorption sites for further pollut-
ant removal. This was supported by Sabanovic et al. (2015)
in the biosorption study of metals on banana peel, since they
did not notice any significant increase in biosorption with
increased dosage of banana peel as from 0.1 to 0.2 g.
Figure 4 illustrates the trend reported by some researchers
for various pollutants. Deviation in the biosorption pattern of
aflatoxin was observed by Shar et al. (2016), where an initial
increase in adsorption was observed, followed by a decrease
with further increase in dosage of banana peel. This subse-
quent adsorption decrease was attributed to the reduction in
the banana peel effective surface area, resulting from forma-
tion of agglomerates at higher doses (Nessim et al. 2014).
It is therefore very important to establish the best adsorbent
dosage required for the biosorption of a particular pollutant
for efficient removal (Shar et al. 2016).
In terms of the adsorption capacity (qe, mg/g) which is
characteristic of an adsorbent, a steady decrease in pollutant
uptake on banana peel was noticed as the dosage increased.
Bhaumik and Mondal (2016) and Achak et al. (2009) dis-
played such patterns in the sequestration of fluoride and
phenolic compounds, respectively, using banana peel. Such
a decrease in uptake with an increase in dosage could be
accounted for in terms of underutilization of the active sites,
resulting from overlapping at high doses; hence, the biosorp-
tive sites adsorb less pollutant compared to smaller doses
(Mondal 2017). These results are consistent with many stud-
ies in the literature (Miranda et al. 2010; Akpomie et al.
2015; Singh et  al. 2016). Information on the maximum
Fig. 4  Influence of banana peel dosage on the  biosorption of cop-
per and lead (g × 10–1) (Salim et al. 2015), chromium(VI) (Ali et al.
2016b), aflatoxin (g × 10–2) (Shar et  al. 2016), thorium and uranium
(g × 10–1) (Oyewo et al. 2016), methylene blue (Stavinou et al. 2018)
and fluoride (g × 10–1) (Mondal 2017)
biosorption uptake by a particle adsorbent, in terms of the
required adsorbent dosage required, is usually obtained from
column studies, utilizing an excess amount of the pollutant
(Zafar et al. 2006).
The contact time required for optimal biosorption of
pollutants should also be investigated, since equilibrium
establishment is required to ascertain the uptake capacity
of biosorbents. An efficient adsorbent material should also
have a fast rate of removal, saving time in practical applica-
tions (Dawodu and Akpomie 2016). The influence of the
time of contact on the optimal biosorption of pollutants by
banana peel has been investigated by various researchers,
as presented in Table 5. Generally, all the scientists noticed
an increase in the biosorption of pollutant with time, after
which biosorption became constant with further increase in
time. This signifies the establishment of equilibrium in the
biosorption process (Memon et al. 2008). The researchers
attributed the initial rapid biosorption increase to the exist-
ence of abundant vacant biosorptive sites on banana peel,
which were utilized in the pollutant removal. Therefore,
as time progressed, these biosorptive sites were depleted,
becoming saturated at equilibrium, leading to a constant
percentage biosorption obtained after a certain time (Amel
et al. 2012; Salim et al. 2015; Jawad et al. 2018; de Sousa
et al. 2019). Also, the initial pollutant concentration gradient
was high and was therefore picked up rapidly by the banana
peel biomass, but this concentration in solution decreased
with time, affecting the driving force for interaction with
the biosorbent surface. The repulsion between the already
biosorbed pollutant on the banana peel surface and that still
in solution hindered further attachment to the surface, and
hence, equilibrium was attained (Akpomie et al. 2018b;
Srivastava et al. 2006).
Achak et al. (2009) further stated that in the case of phe-
nolic compounds, the pollutant has to penetrate into the
pores and may encounter some resistance due to size. There
is therefore a great tendency for an intraparticle diffusion
mechanism to also be part of the biosorption process on
banana peel.
Table 5 shows that banana peel has a fast biosorption
rate for most pollutants, with over 75% of the pollutants
achieving equilibrium before 66 min. However, very long
equilibrium times as high as 240, 840 and 1100 min were
achieved for methylene blue, orange G and cadmium as
reported (Chen et al. 2018; Jawad et al. 2018; Stavrinou
et al. 2018). The method of contact between the biosorbent
and pollutants, in terms of variation in shaking/stirring or
being kept without agitation, would have influenced these
deviations greatly. The fast removal rates of pollutants onto
banana peel biomass suggest effective implementation of
such a cheap eco-friendly biowaste material in practical
commercial purposes.
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Table 5  Influence of contact time and the kinetic model applied to the biosorption of pollutants onto natural banana peel, for adsorption of met-
als, dyes and some other pollutants
Pollutant Contact Equilibrium Kinetic models Best fitted kinetic Comment on diffu- References
time range time achieved applied model sion mechanism
(min) (min)

Metals
Cadmium(II) 0–60 30 PFO, IPD, RBE PFO, RBE IPD mechanism, but Memon et al. (2008)
not solely, involves
Cd film formation
from RBE
Cadmium(II) 60–1200 840 PSO PSO – Chen et al. (2018)
Chromium (VI) 1–60 30 PFO, RBE, IPD PFO, RBE IPD mechanism, but Memon et al. (2009)
not solely, involves
Cr(VI) film forma-
tion from RBE
Chromium(VI) 10–120 60 PFO, PSO, IPD PSO IPD mechanism but Ali et al. (2016b)
not solely
Chromium(VI) 10–120 60 – – – Ali and Saeed (2015)
Cobalt(II) 1–70 30 – – – Abbasi et al. (2013)
Copper(II) 1–60 20 – – – Castro et al. (2011)
Copper(II) 10–150 120 – – – Salim et al. (2015)
Lead(II) 1–60 20 – – – Castro et al. (2011)
Lead(II) 10–150 120 – – – Salim et al. (2015)
Manganese(II) 10–120 60 – – – Ali and Saeed (2015)
Nickel(II) 1–70 30 – – – ”
Strontium(II) 1–100 10 PFO,PSO, IPD PSO IPD mechanism not Mahindrakar and
applicable, BLD Rathod (2018)
suspected
Dyes
Methyl orange 5–70 65 PFO, ID PFO IPD mechanism, but Annadurai et al.
not solely, involves (2002b)
LFD
Methylene blue 0–140 40 – – – Ma et al. (2015)
Methylene blue 1–240 240 PFO, PSO, EL, IPD PSO IPD mechanism, but Stavrinou et al. (2018)
not solely, involves
LFD
Methylene blue 5–60 10 PFO, PSO PSO – Amel et al (2012)
Methylene blue 5–70 65 PFO, ID PFO IPD mechanism, but Annadurai et al.
not solely, involves (2002b)
LFD
Methylene blue 1–1440 1100 PFO, PSO, PSO – Jawad et al. (2018)
Orange G 1–240 240 PFO, PSO, EL, IPD PSO IPD mechanism, but Stavrinou et al. (2018)
not solely, involves
LFD
Orange II 0–140 40 – – – Ma et al. (2015)
Remazol golden 10–360 180 PFO, FSO, IPD PFO and PSO Suggested two do Nascimento et al.
yellow mechanisms simul- (2016)
taneously;
IPD and possibly
BLD
Reactive gray 10–360 180 PFO, FSO, IPD None Suggested two do Nascimento et al.
mechanisms simul- (2016)
taneously;
IPD and possibly
BLD

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Table 5  (continued)
Pollutant Contact Equilibrium Kinetic models Best fitted kinetic Comment on diffu- References
time range time achieved applied model sion mechanism
(min) (min)

Reactive turquoise 10–360 180 PFO, FSO, IPD PSO Suggested two do Nascimento et al.
mechanisms simul- (2016)
taneously;
IPD and possibly
BLD
Rhodamine B 30–180 60 PFO, PSO, EL, IPD PSO IPD mechanism, Oyekanmi et al.
involving BLD (2019)
Rhodamine B 5–70 65 PFO, ID PFO IPD mechanism, but Annadurai et al.
not solely, involves (2002b)
LFD
Other pollutants
17α–ethinylestradiol 5– 240 90 PFO, PSO, IPD PSO IPD mechanism, but De Sousa et al. (2019)
not solely, involves
intermolecular
interactions and
mass transfer
Aflatoxin 5–60 30 – – – Shar et al. (2016)
Benzoic acid 60–1200 720 PFO, PSO, EL, IPD PSO IPD mechanism with Pathak et al. (2016)
participation of
BLD
COD 30–180 60 PFO, PSO, EL, IPD PSO IPD mechanism Oyekanmi et al.
involving BLD (2019)
Crude oil 5–60 60 – – – Alaa El–Din et al.
(2018)
Cyanide 10–60 60 – – – Abbas et al. (2014)
Estrone 5– 240 90 PFO, PSO, IPD PSO IPD mechanism, but De Sousa et al. (2019)
not solely, involves
intermolecular
interactions and
mass transfer
Fluoride 1–100 10 PFO, PSO, IPD, PSO and BNG The unity fit of BNG Mondal (2017)
BNG equation indicates
pore diffusion
mechanism
Fluoride 10–90 60 PFO, PSO, IPD PSO Involves IPD and Mohammad and
BLD mechanism Majumder (2014)
Gas oil 5–60 15 – – – Alaa El–Din et al.
(2018)
Nitrate 30–180 30 – – – Reddy et al. (2015)
Phenol 60–1140 180 – – – Mandi et al. (2009)
Phenol 60–1440 180 PFO, PSO, IPD PSO IPD mechanism not Achak et al. (2009)
applicable, BLD
suspected to play
major role
Phenol 60–360 180 PFO, PSO, IPD PSO IPD mechanism, but not Ali and Saeed (2016)
solely, involves BLD
Salicylic acid 60–1200 840 PFO, PSO, EL, IPD PFO IPD mechanism with Pathak et al. (2016)
participation of BLD
Sulfamethoxazole 5– 240 90 PFO, PSO, IPD PSO IPD mechanism, but De Sousa et al. (2019)
not solely, involves
intermolecular
interactions and
mass transfer
*Chemical oxygen demand = COD, pseudo-first order = PFO, pseudo-second order = PSO, intraparticle diffusion = IPD, Elovich = EL, Reichen-
berg equation = RBE, Bangham equation = BNG, boundary layer diffusion = BLD, liquid film diffusion = LFD,

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1098
The kinetic model analyses are very important, since
they help in the design of biosorption systems, aiding with
reactor dimensions and retention time considerations. They
also provide vital information on the mechanism of pol-
lutant biosorption, involving chemisorption on the active
sites, as well as mass transfer reactions (Achak et al. 2009).
Publication on the use of banana peel biomass for biosorp-
tion showed the following different kinetic models, such as
pseudo-first-order, pseudo-second-order, Elovich, Bangham
equation, intraparticle diffusion and Reichenberg equation
applied for kinetic evaluation (Memon et al. 2009; Mondal
2017; Stavrinou et al. 2018). For brevity, since the equations
and symbols of these models have been described exten-
sively in almost every literature on biosorption, they will
not again be explained here.
Table 4 shows that the pseudo-second-order-model gave
a better fit than the pseudo-first-order model in all the stud-
ies on banana peel biosorption of pollutants. This suggests
chemisorption mechanisms (Bahar et al. 2018; Liu et al.
2019), but appropriate clarification could be made when
considering the thermodynamic parameters of biosorption
(Akpomie et al. 2017). The presence of surface functional
groups on the banana peel surface could enhance efficient
chemical interaction between the surface groups and pollut-
ants. The perfect fit of the Bangham equation in the biosorp-
tion of fluoride on banana peel further supports chem-
isorption mechanisms (Mondal 2017). The best fit of the
pseudo-first-order and Reichenberg equations obtained by
Memon et al. (2009) could be due to the absence of pseudo-
second-order considerations in their studies. Pseudo-first-
order and pseudo-second-order models did not provide infor-
mation on diffusion mechanisms; therefore, the evaluation of
intraparticle diffusion, Reichenberg and Bangham equations
provided this vital information. It was found that the intra-
particle diffusion mechanism was applicable in the biosorp-
tion of pollutants on banana peel, which was supported by
the porous nature of the banana peel biomass, as observed
from the SEM analysis. The surface porosity implies that
pollutants on the surface could penetrate the pores through
the intraparticle diffusion mechanism (Taffarel and Rubio
2009; Yadav et al. 2014; Chukwuemeka–okorie et al. 2018).
The fact that the intraparticle diffusion plots did not pass
through the origin in any of the studies clearly indicates also
a contribution of boundary layer diffusion or liquid film dif-
fusion mechanisms (Dawodu and Akpomie 2014).
Furthermore, Achak et al. (2009) and Mahindrakar and
Rathod (2018) recorded a poor fit of the intraparticle diffu-
sion equation to the biosorption of strontium and phenolic
pollutants, suggesting an even greater contribution of sur-
face boundary layer or liquid film diffusion mechanisms. The
unity fit experienced by Mondal (2017) in the sequestration
of fluoride strongly indicated a pore diffusion mechanism,
also involving chemisorptions.
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Environmental Chemistry Letters (2020) 18:1085–1112
Pollutant concentration and temperature
effect: isotherm and thermodynamics
The concentration of pollutant in the water can have a
significant effect on its uptake by a given biosorbent
(Akpomie et al. 2015; Li et al. 2016). This is because the
concentration gradient determines the driving force and
amount of pollutant available for surface interaction with
the adsorbent (Barka et al. 2013). All the articles pub-
lished on how pollutant concentration affects the biosorp-
tion by banana peel biomass, showed the same trend of
a decrease in the abstraction percentage, with increasing
pollutant concentration. The decrease was attributed to
saturation of the banana peel surface at higher concentra-
tions, hence more pollutant remaining in solution and thus
a decrease in the removal percentage (Chen et al. 2012;
Salim et al. 2015; Ali et al. 2016b).
However, in terms of biosorption capacity (mg/g),
an increase in banana peel uptake of the pollutant with
increase in pollutant concentration was noticed by the
researchers. Amel et al. (2012) attributed increased satura-
tion of the banana peel active sites to maximum function-
ality at a higher concentration gradient. Therefore, higher
pollutant concentration means more pollutant fixed onto
the surface of the biosorbent (Barka et al. 2013). Higher
pollutant concentration generates higher driving force for
efficient interaction with the biosorptive sites on banana
peel. Limitless continuous increase, on the other hand,
would eventually no longer have a significant increase in
the biosorption capacity, due to complete saturation of
the banana peel; hence, a particle diffusion mechanism
may then become more dominant due to penetration of
the surface pores by pollutants into the biomass. This was
observed by some of the researchers (Amel et al. 2012; Li
et al. 2016; Mondal 2017).
The isotherm analysis of biosorption processes provides
vital information on the affinity between the pollutant and
biosorbent, the surface properties, as well as surface mech-
anism, which is also useful in sorption systems design
(Bulut et al. 2008). Review of isotherm models applied
by scientists in the biosorption of pollutants on banana
peel biomass showed mainly the Freundlich, Langmuir,
Temkin and Dubinin–Radushkevich adsorption isotherms
(Table 6). The equations and theory governing these mod-
els have been discussed extensively (Foo and Hameed
2010; Vilardi et al. 2018) and for conciseness would not be
discussed in this review. Table 6 shows that the Freundlich
model produced the best fit to the biosorption of five heavy
metals and six dyes by the same researchers (Annadurai
et al. 2002a, b). Some other researchers also found the
Freundlich isotherm to be more effective in the biosorp-
tion of chromium(VI), strontium, thorium, methyl orange,
Environmental Chemistry Letters (2020) 18:1085–1112 1099

Table 6  Isotherms, thermodynamic parameters and maximum monolayer adsorption capacity of natural banana peel, for adsorption of metals,
dyes and some other pollutants
Pollutant Isotherm applied Best fitted model Maximum uptake ∆Ho (kJ/mol) ∆So (J/molK) References
mg/g

Metals
Cadmium(II) LM, FM LM 98.4 – – Chen et al. (2018)
Cadmium(II) LM, FM, TM LM, FM, TM 5.71 – – Anwar et al. (2010)
Cadmium(II) LM, DR LM 35.52 40.56 ± 2.34 11.11 ± 0.01 Memon et al. (2008)
Chromium(VI) LM, DRM LM, DRM 131.56 –30.5 ± 5.0 110 ± 20 Memon et al. (2009)
Chromium(VI) LM, FM FM 6.1728 63.32 95 Ali et al. (2016b)
Chromium(VI) LM, FM LM 3.356 – – Ali and Saeed (2015)
Cobalt(II) LM, FM FM 2.55 – – Annadurai et al.
(2002a)
Cobalt(II) LM, FM LM 9.02 39.404 152.042 Abbasi et al. (2013)
Copper(II) LM LM 20.97 Castro et al. (2011)
Copper(II) LM, FM FM 4.75 – – Annadurai et al.
(2002a)
Copper(II) LM, FM LM 2.433 – – Salim et al. (2015)
Iron(II) LM, FM LM 1.47 – –
Lead(II) LM LM 41.44 – – Castro et al. (2011)
Lead(II) LM, FM FM 7.97 – – Annadurai et al.
(2002a)
Lead(II) LM, FM LM 4.643 – – Salim et al. (2015)
Lead(II) LM, FM, TM LM, TM 2.18 – – Anwar et al. (2010)
Manganese(II) LM, FM LM 2.864 – – Ali and Saeed (2015)
Nickel(II) LM, FM FM 6.88 – – Annadurai et al.
(2002a)
Nickel(II) LM. FM LM 8.91 32.697 121.978 Abbasi et al. (2013)
Oil – – 5000–7000 – – Alaa El–Din et al.
(2018)
Strontium(II) LM, FM FM 18.98 11.11 79 Mahindrakar and
Rathod (2018)
Zinc(II) LM, FM FM 5.80 – – Annadurai et al.
(2002a)
Dyes
Amido black 10B LM, FM FM 6.5 – – Annadurai et al.
(2002b)
Congo red LM, FM FM 18.2 – – Annadurai et al.
(2002b)
Methyl orange LM, FM FM 21.0 – – Annadurai et al.
(2002b)
Methyl violet LM, FM FM 12.2 – – Annadurai et al.
(2002b)
Methylene blue LM, FM LM 211.9 – – Stavrinou et al. (2018)
Methylene blue LM, FM LM 250 – – Ma et al. (2015)
Methylene blue LM, FM FM 20.8 – – Annadurai et al.
(2002b)
Methylene blue LM, FM, TM LM 106.952 – – Amel et al. (2012)
Methylene blue LM, FM, TM LM 250 34.45 163.05 Jawad et al. ( 2018)
Orange G LM, FM LM 20.9 – – Stavrinou et al. (2018)
Orange II LM, FM LM 25.0 – – Ma et al. (2015)
Remazol golden LM, FM, FSM FM 14.7 – – do Nascimento et al.
yellow (2016)
Reactive gray LM, FM, FSM FM 15.5 – – do Nascimento et al.
(2016)

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1100 Environmental Chemistry Letters (2020) 18:1085–1112

Table 6  (continued)
Pollutant Isotherm applied Best fitted model Maximum uptake ∆Ho (kJ/mol) ∆So (J/molK) References
mg/g

Reactive turquoise LM, FM, FSM FM 13.4 – – do Nascimento et al.

(2016)
Rhodamine B LM, FM LM 9.522 – – Oyekanmi et al. (2019)
Rhodamine B LM, FM FM 20.6 – – Annadurai et al.
(2002b)
Other pollutants
17α–ethinylestradiol LM, FM, DRM FM 1.1783 – 15.092 De Sousa et al. (2019)
Benzoic acid LM, FM FM 6.37 303.73 19.69 Pathak et al. (2016)
COD LM, FM LM 9.8338 – – Oyekanmi et al. (2019)
Estrone LM, FM,DRM DRM 2.4929 – 23.310 De Sousa et al. (2019)
Fluoride LM, FM, TM, DRM LM 17.43 –62.33 –260 Bhaumik and Mondal
(2016)
Fluoride LM, FM, TM, DRM DRM 1.212 –886 84 Mondal (2017)
Phenol LM, FM FM 688.9 – – Achak et al. (2009)
Phenol LM, FM FM 688.9 – – Mandi et al. (2009)
Phenol LM, FM LM 23.98 0.048 76 Ali and Saeed (2016)
Salicylic acid LM, FM FM 8.69 176.43 9.65 Pathak et al. (2016)
Sulfamethoxazole LM, FM, DRM DRM 0.923 – 4.676 De Sousa et al. (2019)
Fluoride LM, FM, TM LM 2.283 – – Mohammad and
Majumder (2014)
Aflatoxin – – – –1.74 –1.98 Shar et al. (2016)
Thorium LM, FM FM 41.7 – – Oyewo et al. (2016)
Uranium LM, FM FM 11.711 – – Oyewo et al. (2016)
*
 COD = Chemical oxygen demand, Langmuir model 
= LM, Freundlich model 
= FM, Temkin model 
= TM, Dubinin–Radushkevich
model = DRM, Fritz–Schlunder model = FSM

17α-ethinylestradiol and phenolic compounds. The impli-
cation of the best fit of the Freundlich model represents
a multilayer biosorption of pollutants by a heterogeneous
banana peel surface (Chukwuemeka–okorie et al. 2018;
Amro and Abhary 2019; Ogbu et al. 2019).
Multilayer phenomena are likely to be dominated by
physical adsorption mechanisms, as the forces holding the
pollutant beyond the first layer (monolayer) on the biosorb-
ent surface are weaker and can easily be overcome. Only
the report by de Souza et  al. (2019) showed solely the
Dubinin–Radushkevich isotherm to give the best fit for the
biosorption of strone and sulfamethoxazole drugs. Mon-
dal (2017), on the other hand, recorded a best fit with the
Dubinin–Radushkevich model for fluoride biosorption, but
showed the Langmuir isotherm to be better fitted in another
of their studies for the same pollutant (Bhaumik and Mondal
2016).
A broader overview (Table  6) showed the Lang-
muir model to be more applicable in the sequestration of
pollutant by banana peel. The Langmuir isotherm is indi-
cated for a monolayer biosorption with more identical sites
(homogenous) on the surface of the adsorbent (Irshad et al.
2019). In this case, chemisorptions are suspected due to
utilization of the surface functional groups to form chemical
bonds with pollutants, resulting in monolayer coverage. The
different fits of banana peel to the Langmuir and Freundlich
models may be due to different species or ripening stages of
the banana used, as well as different conditions or mecha-
nisms of interaction with the given pollutants. Thermody-
namic deductions from the change in enthalpy provide more
information on the chemical or physical nature of interaction
(Akpomie et al. 2017).
A Langmuir separation parameter, R L, elucidates a
favorable or non-favorable biosorption of pollutants by
adsorbents (Dawodu et al. 2020). The values of RL between
0 and 1 indicate efficient interaction with the pollutants,
while values greater than 1 show non-efficient interaction
(Eze et al. 2019a; Umeh et al. 2019). Researchers who
calculated RL values in their studies on biosorption of pol-
lutant onto banana peel found the separation parameter to
be between 0 and 1 (Achak et al. 2009; Memon et al. 2009;
Salim et al. 2015; Ma et al. 2015; Ali et al. 2016b; Bhau-
mik and Mondal 2016; Shar et al. 2016; Pathak et al. 2016;
Mondal 2017; Mahindrakar and Rathod 2018; Stavrinou
et al. 2018; de Sousa et al. 2019; Oyekanmi et al. 2019).
This implies that banana peel is an efficient biosorbent for

13
Environmental Chemistry Letters (2020) 18:1085–1112 1101
the removal of water pollutants. The maximum adsorption
capacity of banana peel for various pollutants is shown in
Table 6. We observed that banana peel displayed its high-
est uptake capacity in the removal of phenolic compounds,
methylene blue and oil pollutants.
Temperature of the water containing the pollutant also
affects the uptake capacity of the biosorbent, depending
on the exothermic or endothermic nature of the biosorp-
tion process (Anirudhan and Radhakrishnan 2011).
Some researchers observed an increase in banana peel
uptake of pollutants with temperature increase, and this
was indicated by positive ∆H 0 values, as presented in
Table 6, which correspond to endothermic biosorption.
Mahindrakar and Rathod (2018) attributed this increase
in adsorption to decreased viscosity of water, resulting
in higher mobility of pollutant for better interaction with
the banana peel biomass. The increase in temperature also
results in the creation of more active sites on the biosorb-
ent surface, due to the removal of some surface substances
with temperature (Singh et al. 2011; Pathak et al. 2016).
The fast-moving, more energetically activated pollutants
could then penetrate the pores of banana peel, leading
to increased adsorption (Jawad et  al. 2018; Arabkhani
and Asfaram 2019). This is strongly corroborated by the
positive entropy values (∆S 0) obtained by many of the
researchers (Table 6), which showed an increased colli-
sion between the pollutant and banana peel interface (Lin
and Lee 2016).
On the other hand, some studies showed a decrease in
banana peel uptake of pollutants with temperature increase
(Table 5), supported by corresponding negative exother-
mic ∆H0 values. This decrease in adsorption is ascribed to
the tendency of already physically adsorbed pollutants to
dissociate from the biosorbent surface, back into the aque-
ous solution, due to increased kinetic energy and level of
randomness at higher temperatures (Sujana and Anand
2010; Akpomie and Dawodu 2015). Interestingly, the either
physical or chemical nature of the biosorption process
can be deduced from the values of ∆H0. The ∆H0 values
between 2.1 to 20.9 kJ/mol are indicative of physisorption
(via weak intermolecular forces), while values above 40 kJ/
mol represent chemisorptions (via stronger valence forces),
requiring activation energy (Chukwuemeka–Okorie et al.
2018; Borousan et al. 2019). In this regard, both physical
and chemical adsorption mechanisms on banana peel were
again depicted by different studies for various pollutants,
which again confirm the various natures of adsorption, as
also expressed in the isotherm analysis described previously.
These results clearly indicate not one specific mechanism of
interaction of the pollutants onto banana peel biosorbent.
In addition, although endothermic as well as exothermic
biosorption processes were obtained using banana peel, the
adsorbent was effective at all temperatures for the removal
of pollutants, as corroborated by negative Gibbs free energy
changes (∆G0) obtained at all temperatures by the research-
ers studied (values not shown). A negative ∆G0 value is
simply ascribed to a feasible spontaneous process (Ahmad
et al. 2018; Arabkhani and Asfaram 2019; Sahmoune 2019),
indicating good affinity between banana peel biosorbent and
the pollutants, and occurring naturally. Since the biosorption
of pollutants by the banana peel biosorbate favors both exo-
thermic and endothermic processes, we suggest that it can
be used over such a wide temperature range, as applicable to
both temperate and tropical regions of the world.
Desorption and reusability of banana peel
biosorbent
For a biosorbent to be classified as efficient for real practi-
cal use, it must not only have a high uptake capacity and
fast kinetics of removal as stated earlier, but must also have
a high desorption potential, as well as high regeneration
and reusability (Akpomie et al. 2015). This is to avoid gen-
erating secondary contamination from the adsorbed toxic
substances, thereby defeating the aim of the biosorption in
the first place. In addition to the avoidance of secondary
contamination, it is vital to realize that the use of untreated
biosorbents for water purification could bring about a release
of soluble organic contaminants during adsorption (Park
et al. 2010; Afroze and Sen 2018). It is therefore advisable
that prior to the use of biomaterials for adsorption, powdered
biosorbents should be released into the water to get rid of
any soluble organic contaminants, followed by filtration,
drying and application for decontamination.
Furthermore, several researchers who utilized banana
peel for biosorption of pollutants also investigated the regen-
eration of the biosorbent, as well as its potential for reusabil-
ity, in order to help reduce the processing costs and second-
ary waste generation. Annadurai et al. (2002a) examined
the regeneration of banana peel loaded with heavy metals
in two cycles of the regeneration experiment. They utilized
hydrochloric acid (HCl) concentrations of 0.04–0.07 M HCl
as eluent for the metal ions and found the higher 0.07 M con-
centration to be more efficient in the desorption experiment.
Also the banana peel was found to still be effective after two
cycles of regeneration experiment.
In another adsorption–desorption experiment in 2018,
Vilardi et al. studied the desorption of Pb(II) and Cu(II)
ions from banana peel surface. They performed the experi-
ment using 1 M sulfuric acid ­(H2SO4) as desorbing agent.
Here, 0.1 g of banana peel was utilized to biosorb 10 mg/L
metal solution, after which 1 M H ­ 2SO4 was used to treat
the biosorbent to be washed to neutral pH. The regener-
ated banana peel was used for readsorption of metals, and
the cycle was repeated five times. The banana peel uptake
13

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of the metals was practicably constant after reuse for two
cycles. The third cycle recorded a decrease of 34% and 40%
in adsorption capacity for Cu(II) and Pb(II), respectively.
There was no more significant metal ion removal after
five cycles of reuse. However, a thorough literature search
showed only rare use of such high concentrations as 1.0 M
­H2SO4 for regeneration of biosorbents (Gautam et al. 2014;
Lata et al. 2015; Chatterjee and Abraham 2019; Vakili et al.
2019), possibly due to biosorbent destruction or organic mat-
ter degradation caused by the strong acid. Therefore, such
experiments need to be verified before possible commer-
cialization of this treatment for banana peel regeneration.
A biosorption experiment utilizing banana peel and the
recovery of seven metal ions mixed in a single solution was
investigated by Sabanovic et al. (2015). Their work showed
high efficiency of banana peel for desorption using 1 M
nitric acid ­(HNO3) and high reusability. They discovered that
the biowaste showed no significant decrease in reusability,
even after twelve recovery experiments. Recoveries in terms
of biosorption capacity (in µmol/g) were 8.21, 28.97, 30.94,
30.44, 32.70, 28.85 and 15.12  µmol/g, with percentage
recoveries of 93.2, 94.1, 88.0, 90.1, 87.2, 91.4 and 81.1% for
metals Pb, Ni, Mn, Fe, Cr, Co and Cd, respectively. Banana
peel showed the highest recovery for Ni and the least for
Cd. The different uptake and recovery obtained for the dif-
ferent metals may be attributed to their sizes, binding value
constant with biosorbent, extent of hydration, as well as their
electronegativity (Akpomie et al. 2018b; Alghanmi 2012).
Castro et al. (2011) considered the solid-phase extraction
of Pb and Cu and the recovery of the metal-loaded banana
peel biosorbent. The metals adsorbed by column experiment
were desorbed completely with eluent volumes from 1.0 mL
and above. Lower volume of 0.5 mL was not chosen due
to the poor rate of recovery. Higher volumes greater than
1.0 mL, were also not selected because of the tendency of
reducing the enrichment factor of the extraction, as a result
of dilution of Pb and Cu ions. The appropriate concentration
of nitric acid ­(HNO3) used as desorbing agent was studied
in the range of 0.1–2.0 M H­ NO3, in order to ensure column
reusability by avoiding excessive acid concentrations. One
milliliter of a 1.0 M concentration of desorbing agent was
found adequate for optimal recovery of metal ions initially
loaded on banana peel in the study. The reusability studies
of banana peel showed very efficient stability over eleven
cycles of adsorption–desorption experiments. The subse-
quent decrease in the recovery of Pb and Cu ions was due to
oxidation of the biosorptive coordination sites on the banana
peel surface (Madrakian et al. 2008).
Even more recently, the biosorption of Cd(II) onto four
different fruit peels (including banana peel) and the subse-
quent regeneration of the biomass has been studied by Chen
et al. (2018). Cadmium (II)-loaded biosorbent biomass was
desorbed using 1.0 M ­HNO3 solution for 2 h, filtered and
13
Environmental Chemistry Letters (2020) 18:1085–1112
washed with distilled water and then utilized in ten cycles
of repeated regeneration experiments. Over 91% desorption
was achieved with all four biosorbents used. Banana peel
also displayed excellent reusability, with only 11.08% reduc-
tion in its biosorption capacity after ten cycles of regenera-
tion. Similar results were obtained by Memon et al. (2008),
but with only 1—3% reduction after ten cycles.
Furthermore, the desorption of strontium(II) from
adsorbed banana peel surface was performed, by utilizing
0.1 M concentration of various base/acid solutions such as
sodium hydroxide, acetic acid, hydrochloric acid and nitric
acid, while a concentration of 0.05 M sulfuric acid and
deionized water was also used (Mahindrakar and Rathod
2018). At room temperature of 300 K, these eluents pro-
duced 17.2, 21.0, 31.6, 39.1, 66.7 and 16.34% desorption
percentages, respectively. The highest percentage of des-
orption was clearly achieved using H ­ NO3 solutions (Ingle
et al. 2015). Sr(II) adsorbed on banana peel surface is likely
to react with ­HNO3, forming very soluble Sr(NO3)2 in the
process. The temperature of 303 K was utilized for regen-
eration experiments with nitric acid, since the attempted
higher temperatures of 322 and 313 K gave lower desorp-
tion of 31.1 and 39.7%, respectively. The higher desorption
efficiency achieved via nitric acid among all the selected
chemicals used, corroborated the use of nitric acid by most
researchers described earlier in this section, for the desorp-
tion of metals from banana peel and subsequent regeneration
investigations. Reusability of the banana peel biomass after
five cycles only showed a little decrease in adsorption uptake
of 1.5–2.0% after each cycle. After the fifth regeneration
cycle, 90% Sr(II) biosorption on banana peel with 50 mg/L
Sr(II) solution was achieved, and the surface eventually gets
charred as seen from electronic spectra analysis. These stud-
ies all showed good potential of banana peel for regeneration
and reusability in biosorption of metals.
Dye desorption from loaded banana peel also showed
good potential in regeneration of the biosorbent material, as
observed from studies conducted. Mondal and Kar (2018)
studied the sequestration of congo red dye from water on
banana peel and subsequent desorption, using various elu-
ents. Different desorbing solutions of 0.1 M acetic acid,
sodium hydroxide, hydrochloric acid and distilled water
were applied, with maximum desorption of 97.3% achieved
using sodium hydroxide. Various pollutants loaded on a
biosorbent material may be selective for different eluents in
terms of maximum desorption percentage, which is strongly
dependent on the mechanism of biosorption as well as the
affinity of the pollutant for the specific biosorbent surface
(Munagapati et al. 2018).
The phenolic compound biosorption tendency by the
banana peel surface was also examined (Achak et al. 2009).
In that study, similar yields of 0.12, 0.13 and 0.17  g/g
desorption of phenolic substances was achieved, using an
Environmental Chemistry Letters (2020) 18:1085–1112 1103
alkaline solution (pH 12), acetic acid solution (pH 1.2) and
water (pH 7.3), respectively. The tendency of biosorbed pol-
lutants to be easily desorbed from the biosorbent surface
using water is an indication of very weak bonding corre-
sponding to physisorption (characterized by weak intermo-
lecular forces (weaker than chemisorption), such as dipolar
attraction, van der Waals forces and hydrogen bonding).
However, if efficient desorption is achieved using organic
acids, the process is likely to be chemisorption instead (via
stronger valence bonds, occupying specific adsorption sites
on the surface only, resulting in monolayer adsorption),
while elution by alkaline solutions is attributed to an ion
exchange mechanism (Namasivayam and Yamuna 1992;
Meitei and Prasad 2013; Akpomie et al. 2015). This deduc-
tion suggests the involvement of different mechanisms in the
above biosorption of phenolic substances on banana peel,
dominated by chemisorption. Biosorption was found to be
optimum at alkaline pH ranges and lower in acidic condi-
tions. Therefore, electrostatic repulsions favor the desorption
of phenolic substances, when recovered from the positively
charged banana peel surface in acidic environment, which
accounts for the maximum desorption obtained in the above
study when using acetic acid.
In another study, fluoride ions were also successfully
desorbed from loaded banana peel, as reported by Bhaumik
and Mondal (2016). The regeneration was performed using
water adjusted to various acidic and alkaline solutions of
pH 2.0 to 14.0. They observed 76% desorption of fluoride
ions, recovered at pH 8.0 from the regenerated banana peel.
In addition, the biosorption and desorption of four afla-
toxins (AFs), which include aflatoxins of B1, B2, G1 and
G2 designated as AFB1, AFB2, AFG1 and AFG2, respec-
tively, were investigated by Shar et al. (2016). The authors
performed aflatoxins biosorption on the banana peel sur-
face at pH = 3 and 8, respectively, while the reverse order
of pH = 8 and 3 was utilized for the respective desorption
of each aflatoxin. Less than 10% desorption of aflatoxin,
recovered from the banana peel-loaded surface, was noticed,
which showed that pH had an insignificant effect on the
forces binding aflatoxin to the banana peel surface. Though
only few reports exist on the desorption and recovery of
aflatoxins, it was similarly noticed that these contaminants
exhibited a hydrophobic kind of attraction with the cell sur-
faces, since they are not easily desorbed by changing pH
(Haskard et al. 2000). This deduction is very significant in
the digestion process of monogastric animals, due to con-
stant changes in pH of the food bolus. Therefore, the con-
sumption of banana peel by these animals would favor the
biosorption of aflatoxins in the G1 tract compartments, since
the hydrophobic attraction of the aflatoxin and banana peel
would not be affected by constant pH changes, thus resulting
in decontamination of such aflatoxin from the system via
biosorbent, hereby preventing toxicoses (Avantaggiato et al.
2014; Zahoor and Khan 2018).
Also, the desorption of gas oil and crude oil spills
from the banana peel biomass and subsequent reuse of the
biosorbent was successfully carried out by Alaa El–Din et al.
(2018). Regeneration was performed by extraction with elu-
ent n-hexane and by mechanical means. Twenty cycles of
adsorption–desorption experiments of gas oil showed up to
90% retainment of initial biosorption levels, even after the
10th cycle. Crude oil which was biosorbed after allowing
to weather for one day showed good biosorption up to 15
cycles of reuse, while biosorption of crude oil weathered for
7 days declined drastically after the 10th cycle. The stability
as well as chemical structure of the banana peel surface was
not affected by the n-hexane extraction, and the decrease
in oil uptake after repeated use was instead attributed to
the deformation of the biosorbent biomass by continuous
mechanical pressing (Wu et al. 2014; Dong et al. 2015).
Banana peel thus showed efficient biosorption as well as
reusability for oil spill cleanup.
It is important to mention that for commercial application
of banana peel, it may not be necessary to regenerate and
reuse the biosorbent if the cost of such processes exceeds the
cost of replacement with new peel. The banana peel could
easily be replaced, since the material is low cost and read-
ily available as biowaste. Also, after some cycles of regen-
eration and reuse, most biosorbents become inefficient for
further reuse, based on the regeneration methods presently
available. The spent banana peel if merely left constitutes
secondary waste to the environment. This secondary waste
generation can be avoided by utilizing the spent banana
peel biomass as source of biofuels or bioenergy (Dhabhai
et al. 2018). The produced energy from the spent biosorbent
can be used for the production of fuel briquettes applied in
furnaces and boilers (Mohanta and Ahmaruzzaman 2018).
The left over ash can further be utilized in landfills and the
production of fire bricks, building blocks and other construc-
tion materials (Sharma 2019), thereby completing the waste
recycling.
Conclusions and future recommendations
The contamination of environmental water with pollutants
such as heavy metals, dyes, oils, radioactive substances,
pharmaceuticals, as well as other organic, cationic and ani-
onic pollutants is on the rise. This is mainly due to the rapid
advancement in science and technological development in
different parts of the world. These pollutants are the cause
for serious concern, as a result of their adverse effects on
living resources. The biosorption technique among several
techniques has received extensive focus among scientists
for water treatment, due to the low cost and efficiency of
13

1104
biowaste. Banana peel has received particular interest, owing
to its abundance worldwide; therefore, practical implementa-
tion on a commercial basis is viable using this biosorbent.
The processing factors which could influence the optimal use
of banana peel for water decontamination, such as pH of the
pollutant solution, concentration of pollutant, temperature
of solution, dosage of banana peel used, as well as time of
biosorption, were reviewed. We discovered that several pH
values were reported for optimum removal, depending on the
type or nature of the pollutant. Lower pH values were suit-
able for anionic pollutants and higher pH for cationic pollut-
ant removal, although some exceptions were observed. On
average, the biosorbent obtained optimal pollutant removal
within 1 h of contact. This fast kinetic is desirable for com-
mercial application and conformed mainly to the pseudo-
second-order mechanism. In addition, banana peel was
efficient over a wide range of temperatures, exhibiting both
exothermic and endothermic processes, which is indicative
of its suitability for pollutant extraction in both temperate
and tropical regions. Banana peel exhibited higher percent-
age removal at a lower pollutant concentration and higher
uptake capacity at higher concentrations and conformed
mostly to the Langmuir isotherm models. The Langmuir
separation parameter showed good affinity between banana
peel and all pollutants in the literature studied, which sug-
gests efficient adsorption of a wide range of pollutants. Also
the biosorbent loaded with various pollutants was found to
be appreciably desorbed using suitable eluents (­ HNO3 was
mostly applied for heavy metal desorption) and most studies
showed good resusability up to five cycles and above. Nev-
ertheless, the reusability needs improvement for commercial
purposes. Interestingly, the biosorbent was stable up to ten
cycles in oil removal studies.
Despite the efficient use of natural banana peel for the
decontamination of pollutants, future research should be
focused on the following aspects which are still lacking:
• Proper column biosorption studies to optimize the
biosorbent dosage and other criteria required for efficient
pollutant decontamination;
• Experiments containing multi-pollutant components in a
single system, in order to evaluate competitive biosorp-
tion, which is envisaged in real life situations;
• Research on the biosorption of emerging and common
water contaminants such as mercury, arsenic, tin, sele-
nium and chemical chiral pollutants onto natural banana
peel;
• Investigations into the use of banana peel applications on
industrial scale;
• Research to extend the reuse of banana peel over several
cycles, to combat the deficiency of ineffective removal
of pollutants within limited cycles of reuse; and (f) the
utilization or valorization of spent banana peel.
13
Environmental Chemistry Letters (2020) 18:1085–1112
Consideration of these aspects would help advancing the
quest for commercial application of banana peel as an abun-
dant, low-cost and viable biodegradable biosorbent.
Conflict of interest
The authors declare no conflict of interest.
Acknowledgements  Dr Kovo Akpomie acknowledges the support from
the University of the Free State, South Africa, for the postdoctoral
fellowship.
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