• Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.45-53
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• 2013

Biocarrier beads with dead biomass, Bacillus drentensis, immobilized in polymer polysulfone were synthesized to remove heavy metals from wastewater. To identify the sorption mechanisms and theoretical nature of underlying processes, a series of batch experiments were carried out to quantify the biosorption of Pb(II) and Cu(II) by the biocarrier beads. The parameters obtained from the thermodynamic analysis revealed that the biosorption of Pb(II) and Cu(II) by biomass immobilized in biocarrier beads was a spontaneous, irreversible, and physically-occurring adsorption phenomenon. Comparing batch experimental data to various adsorption isotherms confirmed that Koble-Corrigan and Langmuir isotherms well represented the biosorption equilibrium and the system likely occurred through monolayer sorption onto a homogeneous surface. The maximum adsorption capacities of the biocarrier beads for Pb(II) and Cu(II) were calculated as 0.3332 and 0.5598 mg/g, respectively. For the entire biosorption process, pseudo-second-order and Ritchie second-order kinetic models were observed to provide better descriptions for the biosorption kinetic data. Application of the intra-particle diffusion model showed that the intraparticle diffusion was not the rate-limiting step for the biosorption phenomena. Overall, the dead biomass immobilized in polysulfone biocarrier beads effectively removed metal ions and could be applied as a biosorbent in wastewater treatment.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.8-18
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• 2013

Biocarrier beads with dead biomass, Bacillus drentensis, immobilized in polymer polysulfone were synthesized to remove heavy metals from wastewater. To identify the sorption mechanisms and theoretical nature of underlying processes, a series of batch experiments were carried out and a mathematical model was developed to quantify the biosorption of Pb(II) by the biocarrier beads. A series of mass balance equations for representing mass transfer of metal sorbents in biocarrier beads and surrounding solution were established. Major model parameters such as external mass transfer coefficient and maximum sorption capacity, etc. were determined from pseudo-first-order kinetic models and Langmuir isotherm model based on kinetic and equilibrium experimental measurements. The model simulation displays reasonable representations of experimental data and implied that the proposed model can be applied to quantitative analysis on biosorption mechanisms by porous granular beads. The simulation results also confirms that the biosorption of heavy metal by the biocarrier beads largely depended on surface adsorption.