Biosorption of trivalent chromium from aqueous solution by red seaweed Polysiphonia nigrescens

PATRICIA BLANES; LUIS SALA; SILVIA GARCÍA; JUAN GONZÁLEZ; MARÍA FRASCAROLI; MASAFUMI HARADA; CONG CONG; YASUHIRO NIWA; CRISTINA MATULEWICZ; HÉCTOR PRADO; ADRIANA CORTADI; MARTHA GATTUSO

Journal of Water Resource and Protection

Scientific Research

Lugar: Irvine, California; Año: 2011 vol. 3 p. 832 - 843

1945-3094

This paper presents the biosorption of chromium onto red seaweed (Polysiphonia nigrescens). Batch mode experiments were performed to determine experimental parameters affecting sorption process such as pH, contact time, intial metal ion concentration and biomass dosage. The Cr(III) sorption was dependen ton pH, and adsorbent dosage, The adsorbent kinetic data could be fitted with a pseudo-second order model and the equilibrium data with a Langmuir model. The máximum sorption capacity was of 16.11 mg/g at pH 4 and 10 g/L of biomass dosage. 0.1 M sulfuric acid showed good desorption efficiency (>80%). Spectroscopy  analysis showed that Cr(III) sorption on seaweed was mainly through the ion-exchange mechanism. Thsi report indicates that P. nigrescens is an effective and economical sorbent for removal of Cr(III) from wastewaters.