Which algae were used for heavy metal removal?

Chlorella and Scenedesmus are reported to be two of the most widely used algae for heavy metal removal, due to their high biosorption capacities (Dwivedi, 2012). The genus Chlorella includes single-celled, spherical green microalgae of about 2–10 μm in diameter.

What is Biosorption process?

Biosorption is a process of rapid and reversible binding of ions from aqueous solutions onto functional groups that are present on the surface of biomass. This process is independent on cellular metabolism [3]. Biosorption is presented in the literature as efficient and selective process.

What is Biosorbents?

Biosorbents are biological materials used to remove pollutants passively from a solution. They include biomaterials like agricultural wastes, algae, bacterial, and industrial wastes.

Where do heavy metals come from?

Sources of heavy metals include mining, industrial production (foundries, smelters, oil refineries, petrochemical plants, pesticide production, chemical industry), untreated sewage sludge and diffuse sources such as metal piping, traffic and combustion by-products from coal-burning power stations.

What are the advantages of biosorption?

The advantages of this process include are simple operation, no additional nutrient requirement, low quantity of sludge generation, low operational cost, high efficiency, regeneration of biosorbent, and no increase in the chemical oxygen demand (COD) of water, which are otherwise the major limitations for most of the …

What is difference between adsorption and biosorption?

The absorption of substances by microbial biomass is generally referred to as biosorption. The mechanism responsible for this accumulation is complex and includes, among other processes, adsorption to the cell surface and/or absorption of the substances into various compartments of the microbial cell.

What are used in biosorption?

Nonliving or dead biomass (like agricultural wastes including husk, seeds, peels, active sludge, plant and wood wastes; biomass along with chitin and chitosan and stalks of different crops may be used as biosorbents) is more favorable and practical due to the fact that living biomass cells need nutrients and …

What is the disadvantage of biosorption?

The disadvantages include that it takes a long time for removal of metals and the regeneration of the plant for further biosorption is difficult. These made it imperative for a cost-effective treatment method that is capable of removing heavy metals from aqueous effluents [19].

Which microorganisms are used for efficient biosorption?

Algae are efficient and cheap biosorbents as the requirement of nutrient by algae is little. Based on statistical analysis on algae potentiality in biosorption, it has been reported that algae absorb about 15.3% – 84.6% which is higher as compared to other microbial biosorbents.