en Environmental Health, Sciences, and Engineering Environmental Health, Sciences, and Engineering پژوهشي Original Article <div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:14px;"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"><strong>Background:</strong> In this research, the adsorption efficiency of Cellulose (as a raw compound prepared from trash papers) and Cellulose Nanopolystyrene (CNP) as adsorbents for waste water treatment was investigated. Lead and cadmium ions as the pollutants added to aqueous solutions and a synthetic effluent solution was prepared.<br> <strong>Methods: </strong>The effective factors influencing the adsorption process including the pH of aqueous phase and its ionic strength, the adsorbent dose, the duration of adsorbent, and time dependency have been assessed.&nbsp; The removal efficiency was assessed by determination of studied metal ions using a flame atomic absorption spectrometer before and after removal procedure.<br> <strong>Results:</strong> It was found that 0.1g of Cellulose as adsorbent removed 96.81%&sbquo; 50.06% of Pb²⁺and Cd²⁺ from 45 mL of synthetic effluent solution at pH =5 after 30 min at 27&deg;C, respectively.&nbsp; Moreover, 0.1g of the CNP removed 96.88%&sbquo; 60.41% of Pb²⁺and Cd²⁺ from similar above-mentioned conditions. The CNP showed better adsorbent characteristics in the adsorption of Pb²⁺ and Cd²⁺ ions than the Cellulose. The Langmuir and Freundlich isotherm models successfully demonstrated the experimental observations for removing Pb²⁺ and Cd²⁺ ions by CNP as the adsorbent. The Dubinin-Radushkevich&nbsp;&nbsp; D-R) and Temkin isotherm models were better adapted than other used models for the adsorption procedure.<br> <strong>Conclusion:</strong> This research confirms the efficiency of treated Cellulose and Cellulose Nano-polystyrene (CNP) adsorbents from trash papers for eliminating Pb²⁺ and Cd²⁺ions from synthetic effluent solution.</span></span></div> Water treatment, Adsorbent, Poly‌styrene, Isotherm, Cheap adsorbents, 138 145 http://jhehp.zums.ac.ir/browse.php?a_code=A-10-122-5&slc_lang=en&sid=1 Parvin Asadifard parvinasadifard@gmail.com 100319475328460011354 100319475328460011354 No Environmental Science Research Laboratory, Department of Environmental Science, Faculty of Science, University of Zanjan, Zanjan, Iran. Abbasali Zamani Zamani@znu.ac.ir 100319475328460011355 100319475328460011355 Yes Environmental Science Research Laboratory, Department of Environmental Science, Faculty of Science, University of Zanjan, Zanjan, Iran. Farideh Piri farideh.piri@znu.ac.ir 100319475328460011356 100319475328460011356 No Organic Chemistry Research Laboratory, Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, University of Zanjan, Zanjan, Iran. Somayyeh Piri somayyeh.piri@gmail.com 100319475328460011357 100319475328460011357 No Organic Chemistry Research Laboratory, Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, University of Zanjan, Zanjan, Iran.