Abstract
Purpose
Biosorption is an emerging, eco-friendly and economical method for treating the wastewater effluents. Compared to many other biological materials, algae biomass proved to be the better biosorbent due to the presence of cell wall polymers in them.
Methods
Algal biomasses namely Enteromorpha flexuosa and Gracilaria corticata were dried, crushed and used as biosorbents. Ponceau S, a diazo dye was used as a model adsorbate for the biosorption studies. The biosorbents were characterized by Scanning Electron Microscopy, FT-IR and zero point charge. Batch studies were performed by varying pH, biosorbent dosage and initial dye concentrations. Adsorption isotherms, kinetic and thermodynamic analyses were carried out. The effect of electrolytes was also studied. Batch desorption studies were also carried out using various reagents.
Results
Isotherm data were tested with Langmuir and Freundlich isotherm models and the results suggested that the Freundlich isotherm fitted the data well. Kinetic studies were performed with varying initial dye concentrations and the data were incorporated with pseudo first-order and pseudo second-order kinetic equations and was found that the studied biosorption processes followed pseudo second-order kinetic equation. Thermodynamic parameters were evaluated at three different temperatures 293 K, 300 K and 313 K. About 95% of the dye could be desorbed from both the biosorbents.
Conclusion
Both the algal biomasses had heterogeneous surfaces and followed pseudo second-order chemical kinetics. Thermodynamic parameters proved that the biosorption by both the biomasses were spontaneous, feasible and endothermic processes. Desorption studies proved the worth of the algal biomasses as biosorbents in industrial level.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Al-Qodah Z (2006) Biosorption of heavy metal ions from aqueous solution of activated sludge. Desalination 196:164–176
Balistrieri LS, Murray JW (1981) The surface chemistry of goethite (−FeOOH) in major ion sea water. Am J Sci 281:788–806
Bulut E, Ozaca M (2008) Adsorption of malachite green onto bentonite: Equilibrium and kinetic study and process design. Microporous Mesoporous Mater 115:234–246
Chen H, Zhao J (2009) Adsorption study for removal of congo red anionic dye using organo-attapulgite. Adsorption 15:381–389
Dilek FB, Gokcay CF, Yetis U (1998) Combined effects of Ni (II) and Cr (VI) on activated sludge. Water Res 32:303–312
Freundlich HMF (1906) Over the adsorption in solution. J Phys Chem 57:385–470
Gupta VK, Mittal A, Krishnan LA (2004) Adsorption kinetics and column operations for the removal and recovery of malachite green from wastewater using bottom ash. Sep Purif Technol 40:87–96
Karagoz S, Tay T, Ucar S (2008) Activated carbon from waste biomass by sulphuric acid activation and their use on methylene blue adsorption. Bioresour Technol 99:6214–6222
Khoo KM, Ting YP (2001) Biosorption of gold by immobilized fungal biomass. Biochem Eng J 8:51–59
Knorr D (1991) Recovery and utilization of chitin and chitosan in food processing waste management. Food Technol 45:114–122
Langmuir I (1916) The adsorption of gases on plane surface of glass, mica and platinum. J Am Chem Soc 40:1361–1403
Latha H, Garg VK, Gupta RK (2008) Adsorptive removal of basic dye by chemically activated parthenium biomass: equilibrium and kinetic modeling. Desalination 219:250–261
Liu R, Ma W, Jia CY, Wang L, Li HY (2007) Effect of pH on biosorption of boron onto cotton cellulose. Desalination 207:257–267
Lodi A, Solisio C, Converti A, Del-Borghi M (1998) Cadmium, Zinc, Copper, Silver and Chromium (III) removal from wastewaters by Sphaerotilus natans. Bioprocess Eng 19:73–80
Mofa AS (1995) Plants proving their worth in toxic metal clean up. Science 269:302–305
Ozer A, Ozer D, Ekiz HI (2004) The equilibrium and kinetic modelling of the biosorption of copper(II) ions on Cladophora crispate. Adsorption 10:317–326
Preethi S, Sivasamy A (2006) Removal of safranin basic dye from aqueous solutions by adsorption onto ccorncob activated carbon. Ind Eng Chem Res 45:7627–7632
Santhy K, Selvapathy P (2006) Removal of reactive dyes from wastewater by adsorption on coir pith activated carbon. Bioresour Technol 97:1329–1336
Seshadri S, Bishop PL, Agha AM (1994) Anaerobic/aerobic treatment of selected azo dyes in wastewater. Waste Manag 15:127–137
Spinti M, Zhuang H, Trujillo E (1995) Evaluation of immobilized biomass beads for removing heavy metals from wastewaters. Water Environ Res 67:943–954
Tuzuna I, Bayramoglu G, Yalcın E, Basaran G, Celik G, Arica MY (2005) Equilibrium and kinetic studies on biosorption of Hg(II), Cd(II) and Pb(II) ions onto microalgae Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. J Environ Manag 77:85–92
Ucun H, Bayhan YK, Kaya Y, Kakici A, Algur OF (2003) Biosorption of lead (II) from aqueous solution by cone biomass of Pinus sylvestris. Desalination 154:233–238
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Responsible editor: Hailong Wang
Electronic supplementary material
Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.
ESM 1
(DOC 1.63 mb)
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Sivasamy, A., Nethaji, S. & Nisha, L.L.J.L. Equilibrium, kinetic and thermodynamic studies on the biosorption of reactive acid dye on Enteromorpha flexuosa and Gracilaria corticata . Environ Sci Pollut Res 19, 1687–1695 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-011-0666-2
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-011-0666-2