Abstract - Biosorption of lead by the brown seaweed Sargassum filipendula

Biosorption of lead by the brown seaweed Sargassum filipendula - batch and continuous pilot studies

Denise Mesquita Vieira
Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro
Escola de Química
Departamento de Engenharia Bioquímica
Ilha do Fundão
Rio de Janeiro, Brasil
Tel: 55 21 25627621
Fax: 55 21 25627567
E-mail: denisemvieira@yahoo.com.br

Antonio Carlos Augusto da Costa
Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro
Instituto de Química
Programa de Pós-Graduação em Engenharia Química
R. São Francisco Xavier 524, Sala 426
Rio de Janeiro, Brasil
Fax: 55 21 25877227
E-mail: acosta@uerj.br

Cristiane Assumpção Henriques
Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro
Instituto de Química
Programa de Pós-Graduação em Engenharia Química
R. São Francisco Xavier 524, Sala 426
Rio de Janeiro, Brasil
Fax: 55 21 25877227
E-mail: cah@uerj.br

Vicelma Luiz Cardoso
Universidade Federal de Uberlândia
Departamento de Engenharia Química
Av. João Naves de Ávila 2121
Uberlândia, Minas Gerais, Brasil
Fax: 55 34 32394189
E-mail: vicelma@ufu.br

Francisca Pessôa de França*
Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro
Escola de Química
Departamento de Engenharia Bioquímica
Ilha do Fundão
Rio de Janeiro, Brasil
Tel: 55 21 25627621
Fax: 55 21 25627567
E-mail: fpfranca@eq.ufrj.br

*Corresponding author

Financial support: CNPq, CAPES and FAPERJ (Grant E-26/170.611/2004 and The Prociência Program.

Keywords: biosorption, biosorption equilibrium, continuous system, lead, Sargassum filipendula.

The biosorption of lead by the brown alga Sargassum filipendula was studied. pH 4.0 was the optimum value for the biosorption of lead. Isotherms indicated that for solutions containing 0.03 ± 0.001 up to 3.27 ± 0.04 mmol/L of lead, 2.0g/L was the optimum biomass concentration. The Langmuir model was fitted to represent the experimental data, and the kinetics of biosorption presented equilibrium in 30 min. The continuous system operated for 56 hrs presenting a 100% binding of ionic lead, which corresponds to an accumulation of 168 g lead, equivalent to a load of 1.7 mmol ionic lead/g Sargassum filipendula. The results that were obtained in a continuous system showed a gradual saturation of the biomass in the reactors.