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ORIGINAL RESEARCH ARTICLE

Effectiveness of raw and activated laterite in removing lead and copper from aqueous solutions: A kinetic and thermodynamic study

Corneille Bakouan1,2,3* ,  Ollé Rodrigue Kam2 ,  Anne-Lise Hantson3 ,  Boubié Guel2
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1 Research and Development Laboratory, Faculty of Science and Technology, Lédéa Bernard Ouédraogo University, Ouahigouya, Burkina Faso
2 Laboratory of Molecular Chemistry and Materials, Faculty Exact and Applied Science, Joseph Ki-Zerbo University, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso
3 Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering, Faculty of Polytechnic, University of Mons, Mons, Belgium
AJWEP, 025380292 https://doi.org/10.36922/AJWEP025380292
Received: 16 September 2025 | Revised: 24 November 2025 | Accepted: 27 November 2025 | Published online: 24 December 2025
© 2025 by the Author(s). This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ )
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Abstract

The growing interest in local materials as natural adsorbents stems from their abundance, low cost, and eco-friendliness, offering an effective, economical, and sustainable alternative to commercial options. The present work investigates the removal performance of lead (Pb2+) and copper (Cu2+) ions from synthetic aqueous solutions using both raw and activated laterite (KN-Ac) under batch conditions. The experiments were carried out to examine the effects of contact time, adsorbent dose, temperature, pH, and initial metal-ion concentration. High determination coefficients obtained from the pseudo-second-order kinetics and Langmuir isotherm models indicate that these models reliably describe the experimental adsorption behavior of the metal ions. The diffusion model-adjusted data revealed that adsorption occurred rapidly at the beginning, with fast adsorption on the outer surface followed by slower adsorption controlled by intraparticle diffusion. The KN-Ac, designated KN-Ac, proved to be highly effective in removing both heavy metals, achieving removal percentages of 97.81 ± 0.23% (4.07 ± 0.01 mg/g) for Pb2+ and 94.24 ± 0.18% (1.18 ± 0.02 mg/g) for Cu2+ at an initial concentration of 10 mg/L. The ΔG values obtained for the metal ions were all negative, indicating that the adsorption process is feasible and spontaneous for Pb(II) and Cu(II) ions on the adsorbents, following the order of thermodynamic stability: Pb2+(KN-Ac) > Cu2+(KN-Ac) > Pb2+(raw laterite [KN]) > Cu2+(KN) in the temperature range of 303–333 K. The positive ΔH values for all metal ions suggest that adsorption onto the adsorbents is endothermic and involves physisorption. The energy values derived from the Dubinin–Radushkevich equation are all below 8 kJ/mol, indicating that the adsorption of Pb2+ and Cu2+ is physical in nature. Furthermore, the Fourier transform infrared spectra of adsorbent residues loaded with heavy metals show no changes compared to the spectra of the unloaded adsorbents, confirming physisorption as the main adsorption mechanism.

Keywords
Heavy metals
Removal
Groundwater
Wastewater
Laterite
Funding
The authors thank the Academic of Research and Higher Education–Commission of Development Cooperation/ Mons 2024 (Belgium; grant number: 2024/25) and the International Science Program (Uppsala, Sweden, grant number: BUF 02) for their financial support.
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that they have no competing interests.
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