Biosorption and Recovery of Copper and Zinc From Aqueous Solutions by Nonliving Biomass of Marine Brown Algae of Sargassum Sp. Publisher



Bina B¹ ; Kermani M² ; Movahedian H¹ ; Khazaei Z³ Show Affiliations
Source: Pakistan Journal of Biological Sciences Published:2006

Abstract

In this study, the biosorption properties of a pre-treated nonliving biomass of marine brown algae of Sargassum species in the removal of Cu 2+ and Zn2+ ions were investigated. Kinetics, equilibrium isotherms, recovery of metals and regeneration of the Sargassum biomass were carried out under different laboratory conditions using batch reactor. Biosorption of Cu2+ and Zn2+ was rapidly occurred onto Sargassum biomass and most of the sorbed metal was bound in less than 60 min. The removal performance for Zn2+ by the biomass was found more than Cu2+, with maximum uptake values of 1.914 and 1.314 mg g-1 dry weight biomass for Zn2+ and Cu2+, respectively. Optimum biosorption pH value of Cu2+ and Zn2+ was determined as 5 at lab temperature. At the optimal condition, metal ion uptake increased with initial Cu2+ and Zn2+ concentration upto 200 and 500 mg L-1, respectively. The Cu2+ and Zn 2+ uptake by Sargassum biomass was best described by pseudo-second order rate equation. The results showed that the Freundlich isotherm model was suitable for describing the passive biosorption of Cu2+ and Zn 2+ by the dead biomass of Sargassum. Removal of the biosorbed Cu 2+ and Zn2+ from Sargassum biomass was successfully achieved by eluting with 0.1 M HNO3 for 15 min and a high degree of metal recovery was observed. For optimum operation in the subsequent metal uptake cycle, regeneration of the Sargassum biomass was efficiently performed by 0.1 M CaCl2 for 15 min. In repeated use of biomass experiment, the Cu2+ and Zn2+ uptake capacity of Sargassum biomass was approximately retained and no significant biomass change took place after three biosorption-desorption cycles. © 2006 Asian Network for Scientific Information.