Preparation, morphology and function of biomass filled porous epoxy beads as chelation-ion-exchange for lead ion sorption

Abstract

Spent Saccharomyces cerevisiae biomass, from beer manufacturing industry, was used as filler for preparing porous composite epoxy beads. The beads were formed by ionotropic gelation of a mixture of the biomass and epoxy matrix components in sodium alginate solution, by injection into a CaCl 2 solution. The soft beads were partially cured and then the alginate partially dissolved by precipitation of the cross-linking Ca 2+ ions as a phosphate salt. The porous material thus obtained was cured again to its final form. The finished beads were used as chelation-ion-exchange sorbent for Pb 2+ (and Cd 2+) as a model of heavy metal ions, from 100 to 350 ppm aqueous solutions with good metal sorption efficiency. The preparation was followed by Scanning Electron Microscopy and Energy Dispersive Analysis by X-ray analyses and the influence of several experimental parameters (composition, filler type, amine/epoxy ratio and cure conditions) on bead morphology and metal sorption efficiency were assessed.