Meretrix meretrix ditemukan menjadi limbah yang sangat melimpah di pantai amal, kota tarakan. limbah meretrix meretrix dapat dimanfaatkan untuk mengurangi logam berat khususnya logam berat tembaga (cu2+ ) dengan cara proses adsorpsi. telah berhasil dilakukan penelitian tentang meretrix meretrix sebagai adsorben logam berat tembaga (cu2+) dengan menggunakan adsorpsi metode shacker melalui aktivasi kimia menggunakan basa naoh. hasil penelitian menunjukkan sebelum dilakukan analisis, dilakukan uji karakteristik adsorben dengan sem yang menunjukkan bahwa meretrix meretrix sebelum aktivasi memiliki permukaan pori kasar yang masih tertutup dan meretrix meretrix sesudah aktivasi memiliki permukaan pori kasar yang terbuka sehingga dapat dijadikan adsorben. meretrix meretrix memiliki kandungan al (aluminium) yang dapat dijadikan adsorben. hasil adsorpsi menunjukkan bahwa meretrix meretrix dengan aktivasi dalam isoterm freundlich memiliki kemampuan menyerap cu2+ paling besar yakni sebanyak 9,108 mg/gr dibandingkan dengan tanpa aktivasi hanya 0,051 mg/gr. dapat disimpulkan bahwa limbah meretrix meretrix dapat digunakan sebagai penyerap logam berat tembaga (cu2+). kata kunci: cangkang kerang kapah (meretrix meretrix), tembaga (cu2+), adsorpsi

Meretrix meretrix was found to be a very abundant waste at amal beach, tarakan city. meretrix meretrix waste can be used to reduce heavy metals, especially heavy metals copper (cu) by the adsorption process. research has been carried out on meretrix meretrix as an adsorbent of heavy metals copper (cu2+) using the adsorption method of shacker through chemical activation using naoh bases. the results showed that before the analysis, the characteristics of the adsorbent with sem were tested which showed that meretrix meretrix before activation had a rough pore surface which was still closed and meretrix meretrix after activation had a rough pore surface that was open so that it could be used as an adsorbent. meretrix meretrix contains al (aluminum) which can be used as an adsorbent. the adsorption results showed that meretrix meretrix with activation in the freundlich isotherm had the highest ability to absorb cu as much as 9,108 mg/gr compared to without activation only 0.051 mg/gr. it can be concluded that meretrix meretrix waste can be used as an absorbent of copper (cu2+) heavy metals. keywords: meretrix meretrix, copper (cu2+), adsorption