Kinetics, equilibrium isotherm and mechanisms of heavy metal biosorption by aerobic granules

• Main Author: Xu, Hui
• Other Authors: Liu, Yu
• Format: Theses and Dissertations
• Language: English
• Published: 2010
• Subjects: DRNTU::Engineering::Environmental engineering::Hazardous substances
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/39351
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Biosorption is an effective technology for the removal of heavy metals from aqueous solution. Compared with conventional technologies for metal removal, such as chemical precipitation, evaporation, electroplating, adsorption and ion exchange, biosorption has advantages of high efficiency and low-cost when the heavy metals concentrations in wastewater are relatively low. To date, a vast array of biomaterials have been tested as biosorbents for heavy metals removal, such as algae, fungi, yeast, wasted activated sludge, digested sludge and so on. However, most biosorbents currently used are suspended biomass. The major problems-associated with this kind of biosorbents are separation of suspended biomass from the treated effluent and difficulty in maintenance of biosorbent stability. Consequently, these drawbacks limit application of biosorption in the removal of heavy metals from wastewater.