Biosorption of Iron-Contaminated Surface Waters Using Tinospora cordifolia Biomass: Insights from the Gostani Velpuru Canal, India

The contamination of water bodies with heavy metals from various anthropogenic sources has become a prominent global issue. New industrial establishments and rapid urbanization have led to heavy metal intrusion into various surface water bodies, deteriorating water quality and causing numerous health issues for people consuming it. Removal of heavy metals from water is a complicated and costly process; hence, researchers are adopting various techniques to remove them naturally. This paper assesses the performance of a biosorption technique to remove heavy metal iron from Gostani Velpuru Canal, India. The techniques involved using biomass of Tinospora cordifolia in the form of green stem (GSB), dry stem (DSB), and extracted powder (PB). The efficiency of iron removal was measured from water samples collected diurnally from the canal. The study focused on the variations of T. cordifolia biomass combinations in iron absorption using static and agitated methods. The results indicated that PB with agitation had the highest mean iron removal efficiency of 72.43%, followed by DSB (41.77%) and GSB (35.32%) in the collected GVC samples. These findings suggest that T. cordifolia, regardless of its form, can be used for diverse water resource applications.