Abstract
Mutual sorption interactions between heavy metals, humic acids and fungi were evaluated in this article. While the relative amount of sorbed As(V), Sb(III) and Pb(II) slightly decreased or remained unchanged, the sorption capacity of Zn(II) increased significantly with increasing amounts of immobilized humic acids in the Ca-alginate beads. Therefore, zinc is most likely preferentially sorbed to functional groups provided by humic acids rather than carboxyl or hydroxyl groups of alginate, with an optimum pH for uptake between 4 and 6. Nevertheless, the removal efficiency of metal(loid)s by unmodified Ca-alginate beads or those with humic acids modification was highest for Pb(II), at up to 93.5 %. The pH value also affects humic acids sorption properties on microbial surfaces. While the highest humic acids sorption capacity of mycelial pellets prepared from Aspergillus niger occurred at pH 8.5 (231 mg g−1), the pelletized Aspergillus clavatus biomass was more effective in acidic solution and 199 mg g−1 was recorded there at pH 5.5. The effect of mutual interactions between humic acids and mycelial pellets on Zn(II) immobilization indicates that zinc affinity is higher for the fungal surface than for humic acids which do not supply sufficient active sorption sites for zinc. This resulted in less sorption capacity of the mycelial pellets modified with humic acids compared to the unmodified biomass.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Arias, M., Barral, M. T., & Mejuto, J. C. (2002). Enhancement of copper and cadmium adsorption on kaolin by the presence of humic acids. Chemosphere, 48, 1081–1088.
Arica, M. Y., Bayramoǧlu, G., Yilmaz, M., Bektaş, S., & Genç, O. (2004). Biosorption of Hg2+, Cd2+, and Zn2+ by Ca-alginate and immobilized wood-rotting fungus Funalia trogii. Journal of Hazardous Materials, 109, 191–199.
Badora, A. (2012). Influence of zeolites, humic acids, and selenates (VI) on lead and cadmium immobilization and selected soil properties. Polish Journal of Environmental Studies, 21, 813–820.
Barančíková, G., & Makovníková, J. (2003). The influence of humic acid quality on the sorption and mobility of heavy metals. Plant, Soil and Environment, 49, 565–571.
Dziedzic, J., Wodka, D., Nowak, P., Warszyński, P., Simon, C., & Kumakiri, I. (2010). Photocatalytic degradation of the humic species as a method of their removal from water - comparison of UV and artificial sunlight irradiation. Physicochemical Problems of Mineral Processing, 45, 15–28.
Gardošová, K., Urík, M., Littera, P., Ševc, J., & Kolenčík, M. (2011). Sorption of humic substances onto natural zeolite and their effect on arsenic immobilization. Fresenius Environmental Bulletin, 20, 2939–2942.
Gardošová, K., Urík, M., Littera, P., Kolenčík, M., & Ševc, J. (2012). The effect of pH on the sorption of humic acids on bentonite. Fresenius Environmental Bulletin, 21, 2977–2980.
Hladký, J., Pospíšilová, L., & Liptaj, T. (2013). Spectroscopic characterization of natural humic substances. Journal of Applied Spectroscopy, 80, 8–14.
Jalili Seh-Bardan, B., Othman, R., Abd Wahid, S., Sadegh-Zadeh, F., & Husin, A. (2013). Biosorption of heavy metals in leachate derived from gold mine tailings using Aspergillus fumigatus. Clean - Soil, Air, Water, 41, 356–364.
Kleinübing, S. J., Da Silva, F. G. C., Bertagnolli, C., & Da Silva, M. G. C. (2011). Heavy metal sorption by calcium alginate beads from Sargassum filipendula. Chemical Engineering Transactions, 24, 1201–1206.
Kleinübing, S. J., Gaia, F., Bertagnolli, C., & Da Silva, M. G. C. (2013). Extraction of alginate biopolymer present in marine alga Sargassum filipendula and bioadsorption of metallic ions. Materials Research, 16, 481–488.
Lai, C.-H., Chen, C.-Y., Wei, B.-L., & Yeh, S.-H. (2002). Cadmium adsorption on goethite-coated sand in the presence of humic acid. Water Research, 36, 4943–4950.
Li, Y., Yue, Q., & Gao, B. (2010). Adsorption kinetics and desorption of Cu(II) and Zn(II) from aqueous solution onto humic acid. Journal of Hazardous Materials, 178, 455–461.
Liu, J., Lippold, H., Wang, J., Lippmann-Pipke, J., & Chen, Y. (2011). Sorption of thallium(I) onto geological materials: influence of pH and humic matter. Chemosphere, 82, 866–871.
Pagnanelli, F., Esposito, A., Toro, L., & Vegliò, F. (2003). Metal speciation and pH effect on Pb, Cu, Zn and Cd biosorption onto Sphaerotilus natans: Langmuir-type empirical model. Water Research, 37, 627–633.
Papageorgiou, S. K., Katsaros, F. K., Kouvelos, E. P., Nolan, J. W., Le Deit, H., & Kanellopoulos, N. K. (2006). Heavy metal sorption by calcium alginate beads from Laminaria digitata. Journal of Hazardous Materials, 137, 1765–1772.
Piecková, E., & Jesenská, Z. (1998). Molds on house walls and the effect of their chloroform-extractable metabolites on the respiratory cilia movement of 1-day-old chicks in vitro. Folia Microbiologica, 43, 672–678.
Veglio, F., Esposito, A., & Reverberi, A. P. (2002). Copper adsorption on calcium alginate beads: equilibrium pH-related models. Hydrometallurgy, 65, 43–57.
Vuković, M., Domanovac, T., & Briki, F. (2008). Removal of humic substances by biosorption. Journal of Environmental Sciences, 20, 1423–1428.
Wu, F., Sun, F., Wu, S., Yan, Y., & Xing, B. (2012). Removal of antimony(III) from aqueous solution by freshwater cyanobacteria Microcystis biomass. Chemical Engineering Journal, 183, 172–179.
Acknowledgments
This work was supported by the Scientific Grant Agency of the Slovak Republic Ministry of Education and the Slovak Academy of Sciences, under VEGA contract nos. 1/0860/11, 1/0778/11 and 1/0203/14.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Urík, M., Gardošová, K., Bujdoš, M. et al. Sorption of Humic Acids onto Fungal Surfaces and Its Effect on Heavy Metal Mobility. Water Air Soil Pollut 225, 1839 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11270-013-1839-z
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11270-013-1839-z