title: Biosorption and desorption of lanthanum(III) and neodymium(III) in fixed-bed columns with Sargassum sp.: perspectives for separation of rare earth metals.
abstract: Rare earth (RE) metals are essentials for the manufacturing of high-technology products. The separation of RE is complex and expensive; biosorption is an alternative to conventional processes. This work focuses on the biosorption of monocomponent and bicomponent solutions of lanthanum(III) and neodymium(III) in fixed-bed columns using Sargassum sp. biomass. The desorption of metals with HCl 0.10 mol L(-1) from loaded biomass is also carried out with the objective of increasing the efficiency of metal separation. Simple models have been successfully used to model breakthrough curves (i.e., Thomas, Bohart-Adams, and Yoon-Nelson equations) for the biosorption of monocomponent solutions. From biosorption and desorption experiments in both monocomponent and bicomponent solutions, a slight selectivity of the biomass for Nd(III) over La(III) is observed. The experiments did not find an effective separation of the RE studied, but their results indicate a possible partition between the metals, which is the fundamental condition for separation perspectives.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Bioquímica e Tecnologia Química, Instituto de Química, UNESP-Univ Estadual Paulista, Rua Prof. Francisco Degni, s/n, C. P. 14800-900, Araraquara/SP, Brazil. rcebinho@iq.unesp.br
authors.forename: Robson C
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: Oliveira
authors.forename: Eric
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Guibal
authors.forename: Oswaldo
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Garcia
mesh_terms: D018533:Biomass; D007811:Lanthanum / Q000302:isolation & purification* / Q000378:metabolism; D008674:Metals, Rare Earth / Q000302:isolation & purification* / Q000378:metabolism; D009354:Neodymium / Q000302:isolation & purification* / Q000378:metabolism; D044647:Sargassum / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D008674:Metals, Rare Earth; D009354:Neodymium; D007811:Lanthanum