Eggshells as an Adsorbent of Heavy Metals (Lead and Cadmium) in Deep Well Water

A Research in English and Science 10 Submitted in

Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for

Junior High School Completion

Submitted by:

Cordita, LizelJoy B.

Lim, Fedrick Lance R.

Ong, Julia Mikaela D.

Ong, Razel Joy L.

Tan, Chester Rey D.R.

Wu, Mark Stanley S.

Submitted to:

March 2018
APPROVAL SHEET
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

First and foremost, huge praises and thanks to God, the father almighty, for his showers

of blessings throughout our whole research to be this successful. This research paper would be

nothing without his love, support and guidance.

We, the researchers would like to express our sincere and deepest gratitude to Mrs.

Angeline V. Damas & Mr. Jay Gabata for their patience, advices, tips, motivations, invaluable

guidance and helpful knowledge. Their dynamism, sincerity and motivation had greatly inspired

us to do this for our future.

The researchers are extremely grateful to all the supportive families for their

unconditional love, support, motivation and sacrifices as they provided everything we need to

use for this research. Thank you to the parents who allowed us to do the research at their homes.

Thank you to all the people who believed in us and for their help, support and knowledge.

Thank you for everything and may God bless you.

 ABSTRACT

Heavy metals are natural components of the earth’s crust. These heavy metals enter our

system through food, drinking water and air. As trace of elements, some of these metals are

essential to maintain our body’s metabolism but with higher concentration this can lead to

poisoning. These metals cannot be destroyed or degraded but they can be minimized by the use

of eggshells.

This study was conducted for the purpose of finding out the effectiveness of eggshells as

an adsorbent of heavy metals of untreated deep well water. Also, it is for the promotion of

eggshell as an alternative means in replacing expensive equipments in water purification and

adaptation on the government’s program on Reuse, Reduce, and Recycle (3R’s).

To find out the effectiveness of eggshells as adsorbent of heavy metals, the researchers

utilized experimental type of research. It was conducted for and the outcome of the experiment

was submitted to the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) for evaluation and analysis

in relation to the percentage of heavy metals being removed with the use of eggshells.

The result of the study showed that eggshells has the potential to adsorb heavy metals

present in an untreated deep well water based on the evaluation of the DOST.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
 CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION

A. Background of the Study

Contamination of water is extremely dangerous and serious environmental

problem. Locally there have been many serious cases in Zamboanga City about the

contamination of water. According to city health officer (Dr. Rodel Agbulos) 1548

people were affected from contamination of water from March to late April of 2016,

meanwhile in the Philippines, according to statistical data by the Environmental

Management Bureau (EMB) of the Philippines, out of the 127 freshwater bodies that

have been sampled only 47% were found out to have good water quality as of 2010.

Companies, factories, and industries often contribute to the contamination of the

surroundings with dangerous levels of heavy metals in the air, soil, and especially water.

Various industrial processes such as smelting, solid waste incineration, pyro-processing

are contributors of waste water which carries the heavy metals and other wastes into

natural bodies of water hence the removal of these toxic contaminants are essential and

have been researched on this past few years. Different ways on how to remove

contaminants and how to purify these wastewaters have already been discovered such as

flocculation, ion exchange or acidification and electroplating however these methods

usually needs a lot of equipment, expensive chemicals, high electricity and these methods

can often cause certain problems such as disposal problems. Therefore, many researchers

are finding alternative methods in purifying water hence this study focuses on how to

make water potable.

 Eggshells are the hard exteriors covering of an egg; Eggshells are often discarded

because they only have little to no use. Eggshells are mostly made up of Calcium

Carbonate (CaCo3) crystals. Several studies have been made on Calcium carbonate as an

ingredient in making water potable, an example will be a research about “Calcium

Carbonate Dissolution and Precipitation in Water” by Lyle M. Dabb of the Utah State

University (1971). Thus, the researches want to test if eggshells can be an alternative

water-purifying agent.

B. Statement of the problem

The main objective of this study is to be able to answer certain questions such as:

i.) What makes eggshells capable of removing heavy metals specifically lead and

cadmium?

ii.) How can it be of help to the community to use eggshells as a removal of heavy

metals such as lead and cadmium?

iii.) What are the effects of using eggshells as a removal of heavy metals such as lead

and cadmium?

C. Significance of the study

This study will be able to show how eggshells can be used to remove heavy metals in

water and this research is significant for it can help maintain a healthy environment as it avoids

the use of harmful chemicals and big amounts of electricity.

 Eggshells have little to no use since people only take what is inside the egg. Using the

eggshells will create a much cleaner and healthy environment. This study does not create a

revolutionary change in the lives of many but it can let them live a much healthier life. There

have been countless more studies that have been done with removing heavy metals but what

makes this much more significant is because it uses materials that can be easily found in the

environment. This study is beneficial for the people who have a hard time to find water without

high concentration of heavy metals and for future researchers as it can be astep to avoid the use

of much more expensive and harmful materials for the environment.

C. Aims of the Study

 This study aims to be a basis to use eggshells as a removal of heavy metals (lead and

cadmium) in the water. (Among businessman and in the community)

 This study aims to promote the use of eggshell as an alternative replacement of

expensive equipment.

 This study aims to be a mean of adapting the 3R’s of the government project in which

it applies in our research.

D. Scope and Delimitation

This study will focus on providing an alternative material for the removal

of heavy metals in the water that will help the people especially the less fortunate

because it can reduce the chances of sickness once people drink water that
contains a lower concentration of heavy metals (lead and cadmium). In addition,

this study limits the use of eggshells to remove lead and cadmium only. Eggshells

cannot absorb the whole concentration of heavy metals (lead and cadmium) in the

water. Materials used for the experimentation of this study is only limited to

eggshells and filter paper.

 CHAPTER II
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

Eggshells are important structures. One reason why is because they form an

embryonic chamber for the developing chick, providing mechanical protection and a

controlled gas exchange medium. Another reason why is because they serve as a

container for the market egg, providing protectionof the contents and a unique package

for a valuable food. The superficial structure of the eggshell has been known for over 100

years. The eggshells consist of 97% calcium carbonate, (Burley and Vadehra, 1989) and

most of the research on shell quality concentrated on this fact.

Municipal and industrial waters show low concentration of metals but these

metals still contribute to pollution in water, which is harmful for human health and

aquatic life. Conventional Active Sludge Systems are being replaced by MBR process

show good performance in removing heavy metals such as iron, lead, and copper, this

process has shown less efficiency in the removal of other elements such as arsenic,

mercury and zinc.

From a chemical point of view, eggshells are composed of 98% inorganic

compounds and 2% organic substances. This means that it could create a porous structure

that could allow gaseous exchange throughout the shell. In this research, the eggshells are

washed with tap water and distilled water then dried in an oven at 80 degrees Celsius.

The eggshells are the crushed and screened through a set of sieved into geometrical sizes.
 The impact of the eggshell on membrane fouling was tested on a suspension of

distilled water in an ultrafiltration module. After the testing, the data collected from the

experiments show that the resistance percentage increases with sorbent concentrations.

The test also shows the increase of pH from 3 to 7. This proved the CaCo3 hydrolysis

effect on the water treated.

This study has increased the performance of MBR efficiency in removing of

heavy metals, which dissolve in water. Human health and Aquatic life can be harmed by

the toxicity of heavy metals. Eggshells and eggshell membranes were used as absorbents

to the removal of heavy metals.

Industrialization and urbanization have lead to the accumulation of heavy metals

in water and in the environmental due to the untreated disposals. Most heavy metals have

no significant function in living organisms. However, some elements such as Zinc,

Copper, and Lead are thought to be essential at low concentrations but are harmful once it

goes beyond the permissible limit. Contamination of water by heavy metals is a major

problem for environmentalists because there is a possibility that heavy metals will

directly or indirectly damage DNA which could cause cancer and other diseases such as

anemia, kidney disorder, nervous system failure, high blood pressure, etc. Plant tissues

are also affected by heavy metals. Adsorption of heavy metals using Calcium Carbonate

is one efficient way to remove these harmful metals from our water.
 Sample solutions of heavy metals were put into a Pyrex glass column and a glass

wool was used as a bed. The calcium carbonate was then filled in column, which acted as

an absorbent. The concentration of each metal ion was investigated after treatment. The

results have shown that the Calcium Carbonate has effectively absorbed heavy metals

from the water solution. From this experiment, it was concluded that Calcium Carbonate

could be used as an effective water absorbing material for the removal of heavy metals.

Several studies have been made already to prevent accumulations of heavy metal

ions to human body and damages to bioaccumulation. Recent studies have applied to

used materials and resources such as volcanic stones, fly ashes, zeolites, clays, loess,

shells, humic acid and sea wastes.

Numerous methods have been used to remove heavy metal ions, for examples,

chemical precipitation, ion exchange, and adsorption.

Adsorption is an effective way for heavy metal wastewater treatment. Activated

carbon is relatively expensive, although it is mostly used adsorbent. On the other hand,

biosorption is a more effective method because of its high effectiveness in removing

heavy metal ions and inexpensive biosorbents.

Starfish from coastal areas are used as fertilizers for it contains calcium carbonate.

It can help conserve the marine ecosystem and increases the incomes of fishermen. Also

it is greatly useful for heavy metal facilities reduce the maintenance cost of industries.
Adsorption experiments have been made to heavy metal solutions with CaCo3 powder

extracted from starfish.

From the obtained results, starfish- CaCo3 can be a highly excellent adsorbent to

remove heavy metal ions. Heavy metal ions such as Copper, Cadmium, Chromium, Zinc,

and Lead have been successfully tested. Among starfish- CaCo3, activated carbon,

sawdust and crab shell, starfish-CaCo3 has the highest removal efficiency. Since this

method is excellent in removing heavy metal ions, it was useful that CaCo3 can be

applied to heavy metals for experimental purposes.

 CHAPTER III
METHODOLOGY

A. Research Sample

Eggshells are mostly composed of calcium carbonate, which is capable of

absorbing various heavy metals such as lead and cadmium.

B. Research Procedure

1.) 20 eggshells were washed properly with tap water then they were placed in a stainless

steel container with tap water.

2.) Then the eggshells were sterilized by boiling them on the stove for 15 minutes in

medium heat.

3.) The eggshells were removed and then placed in the oven for 30 minutes at 150° C.

4.) Then the eggshells were gathered and crushed into powder using a sterilized mortar

and pestle.

5.) A 100g of eggshell powder was placed in 500 ml of water.

6.) After 1 hour, filter the water using filter paper.

 CHAPTER IV
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The untreated deep well water and the deep well water that has been treated with eggshell

powder, which was obtained from crushing sterilized eggshells, were then subjected to

quantitative analysis. The results are presented in the table below.

PARAMETER RESULTS
Lead, mg/L 0.097ppm
Cadmium, mg/L 2.13ppm

Recorded in table 1 that the untreated deep well water contains 0.097 ppm Lead, mg/L

and 2.13 ppm Cadmium, mg/L. The researchers crushed eggshells into powder weighing 100 g

and put it into a wide mouth glass container with approximately 300 ml, clear. The samples were

tested using the method of Direct Flame Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometric Method.

When subjected to water analysis, the amount of these heavy metals present in the

untreated deep well decreased recorded in table 2. Lead, mg/L with 0.097 decreased to 0.048 by

50.51% and Cadmium, mg/L with 2.13 ppm decreased to 1.00 by 53.05%.

PARAMETER RESULTS
Lead, mg/L 0.048ppm
Cadmium, mg/L 1.00ppm
 CHAPTER V
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION

Conclusion

Base on the result of the study, eggshells has the potential to remove heavy metals (Lead

& Cadmium).

In addition, the 100 grams of eggshell powder has an effect in the deep well water, which

contains heavy metals. However, the eggshells that have been sterilized and crushed into powder

cannot be use to remove all the heavy metals in the water but it can lessen the percentage of the

heavy metals present in the deep well water.

Recommendation

It is recommended that other researchers should conduct a study regarding this topic to

further improve and support this study.

The researchers also recommend to change the ratio of deep well water to the amount of

eggshell to further establish the relationship between the amount of heavy metals absorb by the

eggshells and the amount of eggshells that are present in the water.

It is also recommended for the other researchers to focus on the relationship between the

length of time that the eggshells were soaked in the water and the amount of heavy metals

absorbed by the eggshells.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
CURRICULUM VITAE