Evaluation of hybrid neutralization/biosorption process for zinc ions removal from automotive battery effluent by dolomite and fish scales.

This work focused in the evaluation of Oreochromis niloticus fish scales (FS) as biosorbent material in the removal of Zn from a synthetic effluent based on automotive battery industry effluent and, further, a hybrid neutralization/biosorption process, aiming at a high-quality treated effluent, by a cooperative use of dolomite and FS. For this, a physicochemical and morphological characterization (i.e. SEM-EDX, FTIR, XRD, and TXRF) was performed, which helped to clarify a great heterogeneity of active sites (phosphate, carbonate, amide, and hydroxyl) on the biosorbent; also the inorganic constituents (apatites) leaching from the FS was identified. Biosorption results pointed out to a pH-dependent process due to changes in the functional group's anionic character (i.e. electrostatic interactions), where an initial pH = 3 favored the Zn uptake. Kinetic and equilibrium studies confirmed the heterogeneous surface and cooperative sorption, wherein experimental data were described by Generalized Elovich kinetic model and the favorable isotherm profile by Langmuir-Freundlich isotherm ( qmax = 15.38 mg g-1 and 1/n>1 ). Speciation diagram of Zn species along with the leached species demonstrated that, for the studied pH range, the biosorption was the most likely phenomena rather than precipitation. Finally, the hybrid neutralization/biosorption process showed great potential since both the Zn concentration levels and the pH reached the legislation standards (CZn = 4 mg L-1; pH = 5). Hence, based on the characterization and biosorption results, a comprehensive evaluation of the involved mechanisms in such complex system helped to verify the prospective of FS biosorbent for the Zn treatment from solution, in both individual and hybrid processes.

Adsorption of Zn(II) and Cd(II) ions in batch system by using the Eichhornia crassipes.

In this work, the displacement effects on the sorption capacities of zinc and cadmium ions of the Eichornia crassipes-type biosorbent in batch binary system has been studied. Preliminary single metal sorption experiments were carried out. An improvement on the Zn(II) and Cd(II) ions removal was achieved by working at 30 °C temperature and with non-uniform biosorbent grain sizes. A 60 min equilibrium time was achieved for both Zn(II) and Cd(II) ions. Furthermore, it was found that the overall kinetic data were best described by the pseudo second-order kinetic model. Classical multi-component adsorption isotherms have been tested as well as a modified extended Langmuir isotherm model, showing good agreement with the equilibrium binary data. Around 0.65 mequiv./g maximum metal uptake associated with the E. crassipes biosorbent was attained and the E. crassipes biosorbent has shown higher adsorption affinity for the zinc ions than for the cadmium ones in the binary system.

The evaluation of benzene and phenol biodegradation kinetics by applying non-structured models.

The biodegradation kinetics of the aromatic hydrocarbons benzene and phenol as single substrates and as a mixture were investigated through non-structured model analysis. The material balance equations involving the models of Monod and Andrews and representing the biodegradation kinetics of individual substrates in batch mode were numerically solved. Further, utilization of a benzene-phenol mixture was described by applying more sophisticated mathematical forms of competitive, noncompetitive and uncompetitive inhibition models as well as the sum kinetic interactions parameters (SKIP) model. In order to improve the performance of the studied models, some modifications were also proposed. The Particle Swarm Global Optimization method, coded in Maple, was applied to the parameter identification procedure of each model, where the least square method was used as a search statistical criterion. The description of the biodegradation kinetics of a benzene-phenol mixture by the competitive inhibition model was based on the information that the compounds could be catabolized via one metabolic pathway of Pseudomonas putida F1. Simulation results were in good agreement with the experimental data and proved the robustness of the applied methods and models. The developed knowledge database could be very useful in the optimization of the biodegradation processes of different bioreactor types and operational conditions.