Abstract

DUENAS-MORENO, Jaime; PEREZ-REGALADO FUENTES, Jessica; MENENDEZ-GUTIERREZ, Carlos  and  PEREDA-REYES, Ileana. Bioadsorption of Cu 2+ , Ni 2+ , Zn 2+ and Pb 2+ using an activated sludge process. RTQ [online]. 2018, vol.38, n.3, pp. 598-612. ISSN 2224-6185.

Heavy metals contents can be reduced from wastewater using microorganisms through different mechanisms included under the general denomination of bioadsorption. Bioadsorption of heavy metals consists in a passive, fast and reversible catchment of the metal ions present in an aqueous solution by physic and chemical interactions on aviable or non-a viable biological materials. In the present paper, a mixed culture of microorganisms from an activated sludge process was used to reduce four different heavy metals contents from a synthetic solution. Copper, nickel, zinc and lead were prepared at a range of 5 - 30 mg/L. The bioadsorption intensity was determined at two values of mean cell retention time (sludge age). The results demonstrated that Freundlich's isotherm adjusted well (R 2 > 0.95) , with a relatively strong bioadsorption due to intensity parameter “n” . Copper, nickel, zinc and lead final contents were 74.60-77.68%; 75.40 -40.26%; 74.54-78.38% and 25.0-31.6% for 5 and 10 days of sludge age respectively with non-significant differences.

Keywords : heavy metals; bioadsorption; Freundlich's isotherm; activated sludge.

        · abstract in Spanish     · text in Spanish     · Spanish ( pdf )