Biosorption of Cadmium Ions by Unmodified, Microwave and Ultrasound Modified Brewery and Pure Strain Yeast Biomass

Boldizsár Nagy,Cornelia Majdik,Cerasella Indolean,Szende Tonk,Andrada Măicăneanu

doi:10.4236/ajac.2013.47a009

Abstract

The present study investigates the biosorption of cadmium ions from aqueous solution onto unmodified, ultrasound and microwave treated cells of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. FTIR analysis was conducted to characterize the biosorbent. Equilibrium and kinetic studies of unmodified RBW (residual brewery waste) cell yeast and DSM 1333 (pure strain) were conducted by considering the effect of initial cadmium ions concentration. Results showed that the ultrasound and microwave treatments decrease the heavy metal uptake compared with the unmodified biomass. Langmuir and Freundlich isotherm models on both unmodified yeast cell types were used to analyze the equilibrium data. It was found that the Langmuir isotherm and pseudo-second-order kinetics models describe better the cadmium ions removal process.

Highlights

The presence of heavy metals in environment represents a major problem due to their harmful effects over human health and ecosystem
The present study investigates the biosorption of cadmium ions from aqueous solution onto unmodified, ultrasound and microwave treated cells of Saccharomyces cerevisiae
It was observed that the biosorbed quantity of cadmium ions increase as the contact time increases, and attains equilibrium in about 240 min (Figure 1)

Summary

Introduction

The presence of heavy metals in environment represents a major problem due to their harmful effects over human health and ecosystem. Many of these metals such as iron, manganese, copper, zinc, cobalt are essential nutrients for living organisms, but they become toxic at high levels. With the rapid development of various industries like mining, metallurgy, electroplating and metal surface treating, wastes containing metals are directly or indirectly dispersed into the environment [1,2]. Cleaning these areas is necessary because of their future use, and their ability to eliminate the environmental impact.

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Methods

Results

Conclusion