Biosorption of binary mixtures of heavy metals by green macro alga, Caulerpa lentillifera

Abstract

Dried Caulerpa lentillifera was shown to have adsorption potential for Cu, Cd, Pb and Zn. The adsorption equilibrium was found to follow the Freundlich isotherm type. The adsorption of binary mixture of heavy metals solution onto the surface of the algae was found to be of competitive type where the adsorption capacity for any single metal decreased by 10-40% in the presence of the others. The total adsorption capacity of the algae was, in most cases, found to decrease by 30-50% when there was more than one heavy metal in the solution. However, the adsorption of mixtures of Cd and Cu, and of Pb and Cu did not show a reductionin the total adsorption capacity.

Keywords

• adsorption
• competitive sorption
• algae
• wastewater treatment