Biosorption of zinc and nickel by Macrocystis pyrifera biomass

2. PLAZA CAZÓN, J., VIERA, M., DONATI, E

Rosario

Workshop; 1st. Argentinien Workshop in Environmental Science; 2009

IQUIR (CONICET UNR) Fac. Cs. Bioquimicas y Farmaceuticas

Biosorption is an alternative technology to remove heavy metals from industrial effluents employing non-living biomass (bacteria, alae, fungi, etc). Macrocystis pyrifera is a brown alage that groow in the south of Argentina. This algae froms part of the Phaepphyta family, one of its most important characteristic is teh alginate content, which represent the 40% of its dry weight. Alginate is the main responsible for the binding of heavy metals. The objective of this work was to evaluate zinc and nickel biosorption using Macrocystis pyrifera as biosorbent.