title: Biosorption of uranium by human black hair.
abstract: Naturally available low cost materials have gained importance as effective alternative to conventional sorbents for the removal of metal ions from water. The present study describes the use of black hair waste as a sorbent for the removal of uranium ions from an aqueous medium. Alkali treatment of the biomass resulted in a significant increase in its uptake capacity. The optimum pH and contact time for uranium removal were 4.5 and 2 h respectively. It was observed that the experimental data fits well in Ho's pseudo-second order kinetic model. Binding of uranium to the biomass was confirmed using FT-IR spectroscopy. Thus, the present study could demonstrate the utility of human black hair to remove uranium from aqueous medium.
authors.affiliation: Nuclear Agriculture and Biotechnology Division, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Trombay, Mumbai 400 085, India. Electronic address: saini_amardeepsingh@yahoo.co.in.
authors.forename: Amardeep Singh
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Saini
authors.affiliation: Nuclear Agriculture and Biotechnology Division, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Trombay, Mumbai 400 085, India. Electronic address: jsmelo@barc.gov.in.
authors.forename: Jose Savio
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Melo
mesh_terms: D065567:Absorption, Physiological; D006197:Hair / Q000737:chemistry*; D006801:Humans; D008956:Models, Chemical; D010858:Pigmentation; D011848:Radioactive Pollutants / Q000737:chemistry*; D011850:Radioactive Waste / Q000517:prevention & control*; D017550:Spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared; D014501:Uranium / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D011848:Radioactive Pollutants; D011850:Radioactive Waste; D014501:Uranium
keywords: Biosorption; Black hair; Kinetics; Uranium