Development of magnetic biosorbents for metal uptake

Abstract

Two types of magnetic biosorbent were prepared by novel protocols from epichlorhydrin-cross-linked Saccharomyces cerevisiae cell walls and their biosorption characteristics were compared to those of non-magnetic cell walls. The magnetic biosorbents I and II were capable of binding Cu maximally to 225 and 50 mmol/g, Cd to 90 and 25 mmol/g and Ag + to 80 and 45 mmol/g respectively. These values compare with 400, 125 and 75 mmol/g, respec-tively, for non-magnetic cell walls.