title: Biosorption of Cu(II), Zn(II), Cd(II) and Pb(II) by dead biomasses of green alga Ulva lactuca and the development of a sustainable matrix for adsorption implementation.
abstract: Many industries have high heavy metals concentrations in their effluents that should be treated before disposal in drains or natural watercourses. When adsorption process is evaluated to generate and implement an efficient, economical and sustainable method suitable for heavy metals removal from contaminated effluents, it is necessary to develop an experimental setup that contains the adsorbent. Ulva lactuca, a marine green alga, was studied as a natural biosorbent for heavy metals at acid pH conditions. Adsorption experiments were carried out in glass columns and in batch where the alga was suspended or fixed in an agar matrix. Langmuir and Freundlich models were applied to the experimental results. Langmuir model best describes the adsorption isotherms in all analyzed cases. The adsorption capacity increases with pH. Kinetic studies demonstrate that, in most studied cases, the adsorption follows a pseudo second order kinetics model. Removal efficiencies of the biomaterial supported in agar or fixed in columns were: fixed in columns>suspended in batch mode>fixed in agar. Finally, the effect of the presence of two sorbates, Cd and Pb, in the solution was measured and results demonstrate that adsorption of both metals are diminished by co/adsorption.
authors.affiliation: INQUIMAE and Departamento de Química Inorgánica, Analítica y Química Física, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Ciudad Universitaria Pabellón II 3er Piso, C1428EHA Buenos Aires, Argentina.
authors.forename: María Mar
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Areco
authors.forename: Sergio
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hanela
authors.forename: Jorge
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Duran
authors.forename: María dos Santos
authors.initials: Mdos S
authors.lastname: Afonso
mesh_terms: D000327:Adsorption; D000362:Agar; D000465:Algorithms; D018533:Biomass; D002104:Cadmium / Q000737:chemistry; D003300:Copper / Q000737:chemistry; D006863:Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; D007700:Kinetics; D007854:Lead / Q000737:chemistry; D019216:Metals, Heavy / Q000737:chemistry*; D008855:Microscopy, Electron, Scanning; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012996:Solutions; D044445:Ulva / Q000737:chemistry*; D014865:Waste Disposal, Fluid; D018508:Water Purification / Q000379:methods; D015032:Zinc / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D019216:Metals, Heavy; D012996:Solutions; D002104:Cadmium; D007854:Lead; D003300:Copper; D000362:Agar; D015032:Zinc