BIOSORPTION OF HEAVY METAL IONS FROM AQUEOUS SOLUTIONS BY NONLIVING Scenedesmus quadricauda BIOMASS

In present study, biosorptions of lead (II), cadmium (II), cobalt (II) and chromium (III) ions from water were studied and dead algae biomass (Scenedesmus quadri-cauda Chodat) was used as natural and biological sorbents. The effects of pH, contact time and metal concentration on the biosorption capacity were investigated. The maximum biosorption capacities for Co (II), Cr (III), Cd (II) and Pb (II) were found to be 32.8, 20.3, 63.9 and 123.0 mg/g, respectively. The experiments showed that when pH increased, an increase in the biosorption capacity of the biomass was observed. Freundlich and Langmuir isotherm models were applied to experimental equilibrium data of metal ions adsorption and the value of R-L for Co (II), Cr (III), Cd (II) and Pb (II) was found to be 0.639, 0.580, 0.915 and 0.949, respectively. The algae biomass was effectively used as a sorbent for removal of metal ions from aqueous solutions.