In this study, three biosorbents, crab carapace, the macroalgae <i>Fucus vesiculosus </i>and peat were compared with an activated-carbon and an ion-exchange resin for the removal of Cu<sup>2+</sup> from synthetic solutions and distillery wastewater. Sorption of Cu<sup>2+</sup> was evaluated and best represented by the pseudo-second order rate model for all materials. Langmuir and Freudlich isotherms were used to describe the sorption equilibrium data with maximum uptake values of 79.4, 114.9 and 71.4 mg g<sup>-1</sup> obtained for crab carapace, <i>Fucus vesiculosus </i> and ion-exchange resin respectively. The removal efficiencies of crab carapace and <i>Fucus vesiculosus</i> were >95 % i.e. comparable with those achieved using ion-exchange resin. Metal uptake was found to proceed via a number of mechanisms including absorption on the material surface, ion-exchange and micro-precipitation. It was observed by GG-ATR FTIR that a number of different functional groups present in the materials were also involved in metal uptake and removal. Plant trials set up to provide a preliminary investigation into the application of Cu<sup>2+</sup> enriched crab carapace to a Cu<sup>2+</sup> deficient soil showed that although the addition of crab carapace enriched with Cu<sup>2+</sup> does not immediately help deficiency problems, it is possible that there is scope for such an application as a route for disposal. Crab carapace is an effective and efficient biosorbent for the removal of Cu<sup>2+</sup> from aqueous solutions and may be considered a viable alternative to activated-carbon and ion-exchange resin. As a waste material from the fishing industry it also presents the most economically and environmentally sound material for biosorption.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:540478 |
| Date | January 2010 |
| Creators | Cochrane, Emma Louise |
| Publisher | University of Aberdeen |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
Page generated in 0.0017 seconds