Investigation of the Influent Concentration Effect on the Uranium Biosorption by Cystoseira Indica Brown Alga in a Packed Bed Column

Abstract

In this paper, biosorption of uranium (VI) from aqueous solution by Cystoseira indica brown alga was studied in a continuous packed bed column. The experiments were performed at room temperature and pH 4. The uptake capacity of uranium ions was investigated by Ca-pretreated biomass in a flow rate of 2.3ml/min, superficial velocity of 1.3cm/min, and different influent concentrations. The results showed that by increasing the influent concentration from 30 to 120mg/l, despite increasing the uptake capacity from 266.61 to 371.39mg/g, leads to reduction of the metal removal percentage. The experimental breakthrough curves were analyzed using Thomas, Yoon & Nelson and dose-response models. The investigations showed that these models are suitable for the breakthrough curves prediction.

Keywords

• biosorption
• uranium
• packed bed column
• brown alga
• modeling