Biosorption of Cu2+ from aqueous solutions by pretreated Cladosporium sp.

In this paper, adsorption properties of a pretreated of Cladosporium sp. for Cu2 were studied. The fungi pretreated with some chemical reagents exhibited higher Cu2+ removal capacities than native biomass. The optimum chemical reagent was 0.2M NaOH. After 0.2M NaOH pretreatment, optimum conditions of biosorption were found to be pH 5.0, temperature 35 degrees C, and stirring speed of 100rpm. Equilibrium isotherms were obtained from adsorption experiments and the biosorption maximun capacity obtained was at 28.31mg/g. The biosorbed metal ions were effectively eluted by 0.05M HNO3 solution. After eluting, the biosorbed metal ions biomass was regenerated by washing with deionized water and then contacted with a solution containing 0. 1M of Ca2+, Mg2+ ions before further adsorption tests. The pretreated fungi biomass could be used for three cycles: biosorption, elution of biosorbed ion, regeneration of biomass.