eng Science and Education Publishing Applied Ecology and Environmental Sciences 2328-3920 2020-06-17 8 5 187 191 10.12691/aees-8-5-1 AEES2020851 article Md. Misbah Uddin 1 Khayrun Nahar Mitu sustnitu@gmail.com 1 Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, Shahjalal University of Science & Technology, Sylhet Heavy metal pollution is one of the significant concerns in Bangladesh. Due to complex behavior, heavy metal requires specialized treatment; among them, adsorptive retention from aqueous solutions proved as a cost-effective technique. This study investigates the usefulness of used tea leaves for adsorptive retention of Cu2+ ions from synthetic wastewater. Series of batch experiments identify the factors affecting adsorption, such as the adsorbent dose, agitation time, and the initial metal ion concentration. Maximum 95.1% Cu2+ retained on used tea leaves within 120 minutes of agitation time. The equilibrium data show compatibility with Langmuir and Dubinin-Radushkevich isotherms. High retention capacity proves used tea leaves as one of the excellent alternative adsorption materials. http://pubs.sciepub.com/aees/8/5/1/aees-8-5-1.pdf adsorption heavy metal industrial effluents isotherms tea leaves