Bio-sorption of heavy metals from wastewater by using marine biomass wastes

Ceballos Quintana, John (2014) Bio-sorption of heavy metals from wastewater by using marine biomass wastes. Masters thesis, Memorial University of Newfoundland.

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Abstract

Significant advances in the waste treatment field during the last decade have conclusively shown the possibility of enhancing effluents’ quality and wastewater solutions. Different techniques have been tested trying to remove impurities from polluted water with positive results. Among them, adsorption, a relatively new method, has proven to be a fast, economical, and universal method for treating wastewater laden with heavy metals [32]. The development of inexpensive and efficient sorbents has led to the rapid growth of research interest in the adsorption field, and as a result, several adsorbents have been tested with outstanding results. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the ability of marine biomass, as an adsorbent, to remove heavy metals from aqueous solutions by comparing the absorption capacities at different values of pH, metal concentrations, and temperatures. Comparative adsorption studies of heavy metal ions are performed to investigate the uptake capacities of the biomass. Batch adsorption tests are performed at four different initial concentrations (20, 40, 60, 100 ppm), two different temperatures (273.5 and 298.15 K), and during 25 hours at four different values of pH (1, 3, 5, 7). All experiments are performed using heavy metal ion solutions (Cu, Pb, Zn, Fe and Ni). Consequently, based on the results of the tests, it can be concluded that the marine biomass is a good bio-adsorbent for heavy metal removal from wastewater at standard conditions (room temperature) and at freezing conditions (0 °C). The analysis shows that the descending order of preference for adsorption of the different metallic ions is as follows: Pb > Fe > Zn > Cu > Ni at 0 °C. At room temperature, the analysis shows that the descending order of III preference for adsorption of the different metallic ions is as follows: Pb > Fe > Cu > Zn > Ni. Additionally, based on the Kinetic analysis, we can conclude that for all the metals studied at most of the concentrations and pH values, the adsorption equilibrium is reached after 5 hours of contact time.

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