Sorption and desorption of Cd, Cu and Pb using biomass from an eutrophized habitat in monometallic and bimetallic systems

Abstract

This work examines the sorption capacity of a natural biomass collected from an irrigation pond. The biomass mainly consisted of a mixture of chlorophyte algae with caducipholic plants. Biosorption experiments were performed in monometallic and bimetallic solutions containing different metals commonly found in industrial effluents (Cd, Cu and Pb). The biosorption process was slightly slower in the binary system comparing with monometallic system which was related to competition phenomena between metal cations in solution. The biosorbent behaviour was quantified by the sorption isotherms fitting the experimental data to mathematical models. In monometallic systems, the Langmuir model showed a better fit with the following sorption order: Cu ∼ Pb > Cd; and biomass-metal affinity order: Pb > Cd ∼ Cu. In bimetallic systems, the binary-type Langmuir model was used and the sorption order obtained was: Pb ∼ Cu > Cd. In addition, the effectiveness of the biomass was investigated in several sorption–desorption cycles using HCl and NaHCO3. The recovery of metal was higher with HCl than with NaHCO3, though the sorption uptake of the biomass was sensitively affected by the former desorption agent in subsequent sorption cycles.