Biosorption of copper(II) from aqueous solutions by Spirogyra species

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Abstract

Batch studies were conducted to investigate the kinetics and isotherms of Cu(II) biosorption on the biomass of green alga Spirogyra species. It is observed that the biosorption capacity of the biomass strongly depends on pH and algal dose. The maximum biosorption capacity of 133.3 mg Cu(II)/g of dry weight of biomass was observed at an optimum pH of 5 in 120 min with an algal dose of 20 g/L. Desorption studies were conducted with 133.3 mg/g of Cu(II) loaded biomass using different desorption agents including HCl, EDTA, H2SO4, NaCl, and H2O. The maximum desorption of 95.3% was obtained with HCl in 15 min. The results indicate that with the advantages of high metal biosorption capacity and satisfactory recovery of Cu(II), Spirogyra can be used as an efficient and economic biosorbent material for the removal and recovery of toxic heavy metals from polluted water.

Graphical abstract

Biosorption and desorption studies were conducted to investigate the potential of green alga Spirogyra species for removal of Cu(II) from aqueous solutions. The maximum biosorption capacity of 133.3 mg of Cu(II)/g of dry weight of biomass was observed at an optimum pH of 5 in 120 min with an algal dose of 20 g/L. The maximum desorption of 95.3% was obtained with HCl in 15 min.

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Introduction

The presence of heavy metals in the environment has been of great concern because of their increased discharge, toxic nature and other adverse effect on receiving water bodies. Elevated environmental levels of Cu(II) come from a variety of sources [1]. The potential sources of Cu(II) in industrial effluents include metal cleaning and plating baths, pulp, paper and paper board mills, fertilizer industry, etc. Excessive intake of copper results in an accumulation in the lever and may produces gastrointestinal catarrh. It is also toxic to aquatic organisms even at very small concentrations in the natural waters.

Safe and effective disposal of heavy metal-bearing wastewater is a difficult task due, in part, to the fact that cost-effective treatment alternatives are not available [2]. Various treatment and disposal methods exist include chemical precipitation, electrode deposition, reverse osmosis, adsorption, etc. Microbial biomass of fungi, bacteria, and algae offer considerable promise for toxic metals removal from waste water streams [3] and the state of art in the field of biosorption has been reviewed [4], [5].

The phenomena of biosorption has been described in a wide range of living biomass like fungi [6], bacteria [7], [8], yeast [9], moss [10], aquatic plants [11], and algae [12], [13], [14], [15], [16], [17], [18], [19], [20], [21], [22], [23], [24], [25], [26], [27], [28]. The investigations have shown that the biosorption of heavy metal cations by microorganisms is a rapid and reversible reaction and is not necessarily mediated by metabolic processes. In general, it is observed that the heavy metal biosorption capacity depends on the type of biomass and the reaction may be selective for certain cations [29].

Many workers have reported the potential of marine macro algae for biosorption of toxic metal ions [12], [13], [14], [15], [16], [17], [18]. The uptake capacities of the biomass of a group of nine marine macro algae for cadmium, copper and lead were evaluated and it was observed that the uptake capacities of the biomass ranged between 0.8–1.6 mmol/g [12]. Biosorption performance of marine algae Sargassum, Padina, Ulva, and Gracillaria species has been studied for removal of Cu, Pb, Zn, Cd, and Ni from aqueous solutions [17]. The biosorption capacities were significantly affected by solution pH. The maximum uptake capacities ranging from 0.61–1.16 mmol/g for Sargassum species and 0.63–1.25 mmol/g for Padina species were observed. In an another study, red alga Palmaria palmate has been utilized for the uptake of Pb, Cu, Ni, Cd, and Zn [18]. The highest maximum adsorption capacity derived from Langmuir model was 15.17 mg/g for Pb (pH 5) and 6.65 mg/g for Cu (pH 5–6). The affinity of metals for Palmaria palmate was found to decrease in the order: Pb > Cd > Cu > Ni > Zn.

Many workers have also investigated the performance of fresh water green algae Chaetophora elegans, Scenedesmus, Chlorella, Spirogyra, Chlamydomonas globas, Zygnema species, etc. for the removal various heavy metal ions (Ni, Cu, Pb, Zn, Cd, and Al) from wastewater [19], [20], [21], [22], [23], [24], [25], [26], [27], [28]. Biosorption potential of Spirogyra species was studied along with Lemna and Microcystis for removal of Pb, Cu, Cd, and Zn in single, bi-, tri-, and multimetallic mixture and differential pulse anodic stripping voltammetery was used for the measurements [22]. It has been observed that the biomass of all the organisms exhibited the following order of metal biosorption: Pb > Cu > Zn > Cd.

The adsorption kinetics of six metal ions (Al, Zn, Hg, Pb, Cu, and Cd) onto green micro alga (Scenedesmus subspicatus) and siliceous earth have also been investigated [24]. The results reveal that alga exhibited a high capacity of metal uptake and mechanism of adsorption onto algae is a mixture of adsorption and accumulation. The biosorption of Zn, Cu, and Co on Oscillatoria angustissima from single, binary, and ternary metal solution was studied as a function of pH [27]. The sorption capacities for single metal decreased in the order Zn > Co > Cu and the adsorption capacities were 0.33 mmol/g Zn, 0.26 mmol/g Co, and 0.12 mmol/g Cu. In view of the above, it is observed that a very little work has been reported on the metal uptake capacity of alga Spirogyra species which is found in abundant in fresh water. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the biosorption capacity of the fresh water alga Spirogyra species for Cu(II) from aqueous solutions. The biosorption capacities were evaluated using Langmuir isotherms and the results indicated that the biomass is a suitable material for the development of high capacity biosorbent for Cu(II) removal. Biosorption capacities observed in the present study have also been compared with the capacities observed by other workers utilizing different biomass for Cu(II) removal from aqueous solutions.

Section snippets

Materials

All the reagents were of AR grade either from Merck, Germany or S.D. Fine-Chem Ltd., India. A stock solution of Cu(II) (1000 mg/L) was prepared in double distilled water with copper sulfate and 10 ml of HNO3 was added in the stock solution to check the precipitation of copper. All working solutions were prepared by diluting the stock solution with distilled water.

Equipment

pH measurements were made using a pH meter (Model CT No. CL 146, Toshniwal, India). The concentration of copper was determined by

Effect of pH

It has been consistently shown that the solution pH is an important factor which affects biosorption of metal and that cation biosorption increases as solution pH increases [8], [9]. The effect of pH on the biosorption capacity of Cu(II) with biomass of Spirogyra has been in shown Fig. 1. It reveals that on increase in pH from 2.5 to 5, the biosorption capacity increases at all the select Cu(II) concentrations. The maximum biosorption capacity at pH 5 with 100, 150, 200, and 250 mg/L of Cu(II)

Conclusions

The batch studies conducted in the present study provides significant information regarding biosorption of Cu(II) on green algae Spirogyra species in terms of optimum pH and biomass dose for maximum removal of Cu(II) from the aqueous solution. The studies indicate that Spirogyra species is an effective biosorption for Cu(II) removal. The maximum Cu(II) biosorption capacity has been found to be 133.3 mg Cu(II)/g of dry weight of biomass at an algal dose of 20 g/L in 120 min of contact time with

Acknowledgement

The authors are thankful to CSIR, New Delhi, India, for providing financial assistance to carry out the present work.

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