Biosorption of copper (II) onto immobilized cells of Pycnoporus sanguineus from aqueous solution: Equilibrium and kinetic studies

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhazmat.2008.03.104Get rights and content

Abstract

The ability of white-rot fungus, Pycnoporus sanguineus to adsorb copper (II) ions from aqueous solution is investigated in a batch system. The live fungus cells were immobilized into Ca-alginate gel to study the influence of pH, initial metal ions concentration, biomass loading and temperature on the biosorption capacity. The optimum uptake of Cu (II) ions was observed at pH 5 with a value of 2.76 mg/g. Biosorption equilibrium data were best described by Langmuir isotherm model followed by Redlich–Peterson and Freundlich models, respectively. The biosorption kinetics followed the pseudo-second order and intraparticle diffusion equations. The thermodynamic parameters enthalpy change (10.16 kJ/mol) and entropy change (33.78 J/mol K) were determined from the biosorption equilibrium data. The FTIR analysis showed that single bondOH, single bondNH, Csingle bondH, Cdouble bondO, single bondCOOH and Csingle bondN groups were involved in the biosorption of Cu (II) ions onto immobilized cells of P. sanguineus. The immobilized cells of P. sanguineus were capable of removing Cu (II) ions from aqueous solution.

Introduction

Malaysia's rapid industrialization in electroplating, manufacturing, mining and automotive has accelerated the heavy metals pollution to the environment. Copper (II) is one of the toxic compounds commonly found in an electroplating industrial effluents [1]. Disposal of industrial effluents containing copper (II) ions into natural water beyond limits may harm the living organisms including human [1], [2]. Conventional methods used to remove metal ions from industrial wastewater include chemical precipitation, electrochemical treatment, ion exchange process, membrane separation and evaporation [2], [3]. However some of the conventional technologies are ineffective and unfavorable as they cause sludge disposal problem, expensive and incomplete removal [4], [5].

The utilization of biosorption technology for the treatment of heavy metal contaminated wastewaters has become an alternative method to conventional treatments [6], [7], [8], [9]. Biosorption utilizes various natural materials including fungi, yeast and bacteria that have been studied to sequester metal ions from aqueous solution [10]. Metal ions uptake by microorganisms involves several chemical processes including adsorption, ion exchange, covalent binding and co-ordination. [11]. Fungi have been known capable to remove metal ions from industrial effluent [12]. Many fungal species such as Aspergillus niger, Mucor spp., Phanerochaete crysosporium, Rhizopus spp. and Saccharomyces spp., have been extensively studied as a potential biosorbent in metal ions removal as it is inexpensive and abundant [8], [13], [14], [15]. Fungi are also been recognized as a promising low-cost biosorbent for heavy metals biosorption from aqueous solution [16], [8], [17], [18], [19].

White-rot fungus, Pycnoporus sanguineus have been reported to be capable of decolorizing 98% and 100% of bromophenol blue and malachite green [20]. Though dead cells of P. sanguineus are also reported as a potential biosorbent for Pb (II), Cu (II) and Cd (II), no studies have reported on Cu (II) biosorption by immobilized live cells system of P. sanguineus [1]. In industrial operation, immobilization is one of the methods used to overcome the incorporating free suspended cells in wastewater treatment. It offers several advantages include minimal clogging in continuous systems [10], [21], [22]. The cells are easy to separate from the reaction system and can be regenerated [10], [23]. However, immobilized biosorbents have major disadvantages such as cost, poor mechanical strengths, instability at low pH, cell leakage and diffusional limitations [22], [24], [25], [26], [27], [28], [29]. Biopolymers such as alginate, agarose, cellulose acetate and gluteraldehyde are widely used as immobilization matrices as they are non-toxic, inexpensive and efficient [30].

The present study was conducted to determine the ability of live immobilized cells of P. sanguineus in alginate to adsorb Cu (II) ions in a batch system. The biosorption equilibrium and kinetic data are fitted using different models and process parameters were evaluated.

Section snippets

Microorganism, medium and growth conditions

P. sanguineus capable of adsorbing heavy metals was obtained from Forest Research Institute Malaysia (FRIM), Kepong, Selangor. The culture was maintained by weekly transfers on malt extract agar slant incubated at 30 °C for 6 days, after which they were stored at 4 °C until required.

The composition of the medium was comprised of: glucose; 20 g/L, yeast extract; 10 g/L and malt extract; 10 g/L, respectively. The pH of the medium was adjusted to pH 9 prior autoclaving at 121 °C (150 kN/m2) for 15 min.

The

Effect of pH solution

The effect of pH solution on Cu (II) ions uptake was carried out in the range of pH 2–5 at 100 mg/L of Cu (II) ions concentration. After shaking for 5 h, the samples were withdrawn and Cu (II) ions concentration was measured using AAS. The maximum Cu (II) uptake was observed at pH 5. At a pH lower than 3.0, little biosorption occurred. This could be due to a competition between copper ions and hydrogen ions thus resulted in lower metals uptake onto immobilized cells of P. sanguineus [40].

Conclusions

  • The biosorption of Cu (II) ions has been examined using immobilized P. sanguineus cells.

  • The results obtained indicate that initial Cu (II) concentration, pH, biomass loading and temperature highly affected the Cu (II) biosorption.

  • Cu (II) uptake using immobilized cells of P. sanguineus were observed more efficient compared to free cells.

  • The maximum biosorption capacity of Cu (II) ions was observed at pH 5. The Langmuir isotherm model fitted well to the experimental data followed by

Acknowledgement

The authors acknowledge Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) for the short-term grant (Acc. No.: 6035132) to support the present research work.

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