DESIGN AND CHARACTERIZATION OF A BACTERIAL BIOFILTER FOR THE REMOVAL OF ALUMINIUM

BOERIS P.S.; MERINGER, A; G.I. LUCCHESI

Jornada; XXI Annual Scientific Meeting Sociedad de Biología de Córdoba; 2018

Aluminium (Al3+) is a pollutant of soils and water and the biosorption process is a potential alternative for its removal. Non-living biomass of Pseudomonas putida immobilized in agar-agar beads is efficient at adsorbing Al3+ at pH 4.3.In this study, a biofilter was designed (25 cm length and 2 cm inner diameter)with 60 gr of agar-agar bead containing non-living biomass of P. putida and the removal efficiency (RE) of 180 mg Al3+/l from aqueous solutions was analyzed. The dynamic behavior of the biofilter was examined by the breakthrough curves ([Al3+ effluent]/([Al+3 influent] vs time), from which the breakthrough time (Tr) and exhausting time (Ts) are obtained. Tr is defined as the time at which the [Al3+effluent] reached 5% of the [Al3+influent]. Ts is the time at which the [Al3+effluent] reached 95% of the [Al+3 influent]. When the flow rate was 0.5 and 1 ml/min, the Tr were 60 and 35 min, and the Ts were 155 and 130 min respectively. The RE decreased 30% at flow rate of 1 ml/min, indicating an inadequate residence time for Al3+ ions to capture the available binding sites around the biosorbent. The total elution of the adsorbed aluminum was achieved with HCl 0.01 N at a flow rate of 0.5 ml/min. The biofilter was able to operate with a stable RE, at least, until 12 cycles of adsorption/desorption. When the biofilter was used to remove 180 mg/l of Al3+ from an industrial effluent sample, total removal of the metal was achieved. These results confirm the high efficiency of the biofilter to remove Al3+and support the possible use of this adsorption system for the elimination of metals from contaminated sites.