Estudo cinético e do equilíbrio da biossorção dos íons chumbo e cobre pela macroalga Sargassum sp. em sistemas monocomponente e binário

Abstract

Brown seaweeds from the genus Sargassum are widely studied for use as potential candidates for biosorption purposes, particularly in the treatment of heavy-metals contaminated effluents. The cellular structure of this seaweed presents charged molecules, such as alginic acid, able to attract and recover metal cation ions. The objective of this work was to study the uptake capacity of copper and lead by the seaweed Sargassum, through kinetic and isotherm studies with the help of kinetic and isotherm models for monocomponent and binary solutions. Equilibrium uptake was reached in 30 minutes and the kinetic behavior of the process followed a second-order model. In monocomponent systems, at 10 mg/L metal concentration, equilibrium uptake indicated a recovery of 0.06 mmol Cu(II)/g biomass and 0.02mmol/g Pb(II)/g biomass. When a 50 mg/L solution was used, the individual uptake was equal to 0.37 mmol Cu(II)/g biomass and 0.11 mmol Pb(II)/g biomass. Uptake was markedly reduced by the presence of the second metal in solution indicating the interference in biosorption in a multi-ion solution. Values of qmax for Pb(II) in the binary system was equal to 0.6 mmol/g biomass, against 1.2 mmol/g biomass in the monocomponent situation; for Cu(II) the uptake was equal to 0.7 mmol/g biomass against 1.8 mmol/g biomass, in the monocomponent solution. In the binary solution, Pb(II) uptake kept the same percent removal, even in the presence of high concentrations of Cu(II); an opposite behavior was observed for Cu(II), indicating that Pb(II) interfere in the uptake of Cu(II) more than the opposite situation. In the monocomponent equilibrium models such as Langmuir and Freundlich were used to fit experimental data. In binary systems, Competitive Langmuir, Modified Langmuir, Langmuir-Freundlich and Extended Freundlich Extented were used. All the models were not conclusive to fit experimental results, however they contributed for a better understanding of the mechanism involved in biosorption, because a high level of dispersion between actual biosorption and theoretical prediction was observed.