Biosorption of cadmium(Ċ) from aqueous solutions by

industrial fungus Rhizopus cohnii

LUO Jin-ming(㔫䞥ᯢ)1, XIAO Xiao(㙪 ┛)2, 3, LUO sheng-lian(㔫㚰㘨)4
1. Faculty of Life Science and Technology, Central South University of Forestry and Technology,
Changsha 410004, China;
2. College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Hunan University, Changsha 410082, China;
3. Key Laboratory of Environmental Biology and Pollution Control of Ministry of Education, Hunan University,
Changsha 410082, China;
4. State Key Laboratory of Chemo/Biosensing and Chemometrics, Hunan University, Changsha 410082, China
Received 23 November 2009; accepted 8 April 2010

Abstract: An important filamentous industrial fungus, Rhizopus cohnii (R. cohnii), was used as an efficient biosorbent for removing
cadmium from wastewater. The sorption conditions, such as pH, the dose of biomass and the initial concentration of cadmium were
examined. Two kinds of adsorption models were applied to simulate the biosorption data. The uptake of cadmium was higher in weak
acid condition than in strong acid condition. Nearly no sorption of cadmium occurred when the pH value was lower than 2.0.
Biosorption isothermal data could be well simulated by both Langmuir and Freundlich models. Langmuir simulation of the
biosorption showed that the maximum uptake of cadmium was 40.5 mg/g (0.36 mmol/g) in the optimal conditions, which was higher
than many other adsorbents, including biosorbents and activated carbon. In addition, the reusability results showed that after five
times of sorption and desorption process, the sorption capacity of R. cohnii could still maintain nearly 80%, confirming its practical
application in cadmium treatment. Fourier transform infrared spectrum revealed that carboxyl, amino and hydroxyl groups on
biosorbent R. cohnii surface were responsible for the biosorption of cadmium.
Key words: biosorption; Rhizopus cohnii; biosorbent; cadmium

efficiency, labor-intensive operation, and lack of

1 Introduction selectivity in the treating process[5].
Compared with the conventional methods,
Cadmium is one of the most toxic metals found in biosorption is considered to be a promising option to
effluents discharged from industries involved in metal solve the environmental pollution of heavy metals. The
plating, metallurgical alloying, mining, ceramics and major advantages of biosorption include low cost, high
other industrial activities. It is non-biodegradable and efficiency of heavy metal removal from diluted solutions,
tends to accumulate in living organisms, causing regeneration of the biosorbent and the possibility of
significant threats to both the environment and public metal recovery[6]. The promising challenge to traditional
health[1]. Many laws and rules are set up to restrict this operation attracts people to exploit more bioresources as
pollutant releasing into environment to pollute the air, biosorbent in this research field.
soil and water in China. Fungi are widely used in a variety of industrial
Many physicochemical strategies, such as filtration, fermentation processes which could serve as an
chemical precipitation, electrochemical treatment, ion economical and constant supply source of biomass to
exchange, oxidation or reduction, reverse osmosis, and remove metal ions from wastewater. Fungi can also
evaporation recovery, have been developed to remove easily grow in substantial amounts using unsophisticated
heavy metals, including cadmium, from polluted water fermentation techniques and inexpensive growth media.
[1í4]. However, there are some disadvantages for Therefore, a fungal biomass could serve as an
traditional physicochemical methods to treat cadmium- economical method for removal or recovery of metal
polluted wastewater, such as expensive cost, low ions from aqueous solutions[7]. Some literatures report

Foundation item: Project(50830301) supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China; Project(50725825) supported by the National Science
Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars of China
Corresponding author: LUO sheng-lian; Tel: +86-731-88821967; E-mail: [email protected]
DOI: 10.1016/S1003-6326(09)60264-8
 LUO Jin-ming, et al/Trans. Nonferrous Met. Soc. China 20(2010) 1104í1111 1105
that many kinds of fungi are capable of removing heavy were referred to as “biosorbent R. cohnii” in this work.
metals during sewage treatment, such as fungus The activated carbon with similar diameter was obtained
Aspergillus niger[7], fungus Phanerochaete from Shanghai Xingchang Activated Carbon Co., Ltd,
chrysosporium[8], white-rot fungus[9], fungal biomass China. The adsorbents were all stored in desiccators for
of Mucor racemosus[10] and the by products of the following experiments.
brown-rot fungus L. edodes[11].
Rhizopus species are important filamentous fungi 2.3 Analytical technique
that have been widely used in modern industries for The concentrations of cadmium ions were
processing traditional fermented foods, industrial determined by the flame atomic absorption spectrometry
enzyme production and organic acids such as fumaric (FAAS) using Z2000 polarized zeeman atomic
and lactic acid production[12í13]. Abundance of this absorption spectrophotometer (Hitachi, Japan). The
kind of biomaterial was thrown away after application. hollow cathode lamp was operated at 5 mA and the
This biomaterial contains plenty of chitin and lignin, analytical wavelength was set at 228.8 nm.
which are very efficient in heavy metals biosorption[14].
Plenty of myceliums in the byproduct have many 2.4 Batch biosorption and desorption experiments
important bene¿ts for human beings, such as degrading 20, 50 and 100 mg/L of cadmium solution were
organopollutants[15] and sorbing heavy metals such as conducted to determine optimal pH, contact time and
chromium[16]. dosage (dry mass). Biosorbent R. cohnii was mixed with
This study aimed at using the industrial fungus Cd(Ċ) solution and agitated in an incubator at 150 r/min,
Rhizopus cohnii (R. cohnii) to remove cadmium in 298 K. The effect of pH was investigated in the range of
simulated wastewater. The factors that affect biosorption 1.5í6.5 at the dosage of 1.0 g/L and contact time of 12 h
capacity, such as pH, the dosage and reusability of (to ensure that equilibrium was reached). The pH values
biosorbent and the initial cadmium concentration were in the solutions were monitored by a FE20 pH electrode
examined. Freundlich and Langmuir isotherm models (Mettler Toledo, Shanghai, China). The kinetics of Cd(Ċ)
were used to simulate the biosorption characterization. sorption on biosorbent R. cohnii was also studied. The
Moreover, Fourier transform infrared spectrum was dosage was 1.0 g/L and the pH was adjusted to 4.5.
employed to understand the biosorption mechanism. Samples were taken and analyzed at the following time
intervals: 0.25, 0.5, 1.0, 2.0, 4.0 and 6.0 h. The optimum
2 Experimental dosage was examined in the range of 1.0í15.0 g/L.
The desorption study was conducted at the initial
2.1 Preparation of reagents and medium Cd(Ċ) concentration of 20, 50 and 100 mg/L under
All reagents used were of analytical grade and previously determined optimal adsorption conditions.
purchased from Shanghai Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. in After the biosorption of Cd(Ċ), the biosorbent was
China. The 1 000 mg/L Cd( Ċ) stock solution was eluted with 20 mL 0.1 mol/L HNO3 for 1 h at 150 r/min.
prepared by dissolving the exact quantities of the Then, the biosorbent was washed with deionized water
3CdSO4·8H2O in deionized-distilled water. The working till the pH of the eluate was in the range of 5.0í5.5. This
concentration of Cd(Ċ) solution was prepared from cycle was repeated 5 times. Samples were taken after
suitable serial dilution of the stock solution. The every adsorption and desorption process by filtering
deionized-distilled water used in this experiment was through 0.45 μm filter units (Millipore, Ireland). The
obtained from a Milli-Q system (Millipore, USA). cadmium concentrations in the filtrate were analyzed
The yeast peptone sucrose (YPS) medium contained with the methods mentioned above. All experiments
3.0 g/L yeast extract, 10 g/L peptone and 20 g/L sucrose. were done three times, yielding an experimental error of
The pH of the medium was adjusted to 4.5. less than 5%.

2.2 Preparation of adsorbents 2.5 Effect of initial concentration and sorption

R. cohnii, an industrial fungus presented by Hunan capacities comparison
Light Industry Research Institute, China, was cultivated To estimate and compare the sorption capacities
in the YPS medium at 303 K. After incubation for 3 days, between biosorbent R. cohnii and activated carbon, the
the mycelia were washed several times with deionized- experiments were conducted at initial Cd( Ċ )
distilled water. The biomass were killed by autoclaving concentrations from 10 to 1 000 mg/L, at previously
(15 lb, 394 K) for 20 min, and then dried at 343 K until determined optimum conditions (1 g/L dosage, pH 4.5
mass was kept constant. Subsequently, the dried mycelia for biosorbent R. cohnii, pH 6.5 for activated carbon, 150
were crushed into fractions. The powdered biomass r/min, 298 K) and contacted for 2 h, respectively.
residues obtained (particle size between 0.45 and 1.0 mm) Subsequently, the mixtures were filtered through
1106 LUO Jin-ming, et al/Trans. Nonferrous Met. Soc. China 20(2010) 1104í1111
0.45 μm filter units (Millipore, Ireland). The cadmium the solution at higher pH values, making true sorption
concentrations in the filtrate were analyzed with the studies impossible. The biosorption capacities of
methods mentioned above. The experimental data were biosorbents depend on the available binding sites
processed via Langmuir and Freundlich isotherms. All provided by the functional groups existing on the surface
experiments were done three times, yielding an of the biosorbents[1]. Such sites were not available due
experimental error less than 5%. to competition between Cd2+ and H3O+ ions when pH˘
2.0. With the acidity decreasing in the solution, the
2.6 Fourier transform infrared analysis (FTIR) deprotonation of acid functional groups, such as carboxyl,
To investigate the changes of functional groups phosphonate and phosphodiester, was strengthened and
during biosorption of cadmium by biosorbent R. cohnii, the attraction increased between negative charge on
Fourier transform infrared analysis was employed to biomass and positive metal cations[1, 11].
obtain the information associated with the biosorption
mechanisms during the process. 3.2 Kinetic studies
Infrared spectra of the biosorbent before and after As can been seen in Fig.2, there was an increase in
adsorption were acquired by a FTIR (Nicolet 5700 the adsorption of cadmium with the increase of sorption
Thermo, USA). The mass ratio of sample to KBr used time. The equilibrium was achieved after 2 h and no
for the preparation of the disks was 1:100. remarkable changes were observed for longer reaction
time. The biosorption capacities of biosorbent R. cohnii
3 Results and discussion were 3.8, 7.1 and 13.9 mg/g for the initial cadmium
concentration of 20, 50 and 100 mg/L, respectively.
3.1 Effect of pH
The pH level is one of the most important
parameters on biosorption of metal ions from aqueous
solutions[7,17í18]. Regarding R. cohnii, its high content
of ionizable groups (e.g. carboxyl groups from
mannuronic and guluronic) on the cell wall
polysaccharides, makes it, at least in theory, very liable
to influence the pH of medium[6]. As shown in Fig.1,
barely any biosorption was observed for a pH less than
2.0. The cadmium uptake of biosorbent R. cohnii
increased with the pH increasing from 2.0 to 4.5 and then
reached a plateau in the pH range of 4.5í6.5. Similar
trends were also observed by DA COSTA and
DEFRANCA[19] and CRUZ et al[6].

Fig.2 Effect of sorption time on Cd(Ċ) biosorption capacity

using biosorbent R. cohnii at different initial concentrations at
298 K and pH 4.5

The biosorption kinetics of heavy metal ions

consisted of two phases: an initial rapid phase where the
biosorption was rapid and contributed significantly to the
equilibrium biosorption, and a slower second phase
whose contribution to the total metal biosorption was
relatively small. The first phase of biosorption kinetics
lasted for almost 1 h. The trend of Cd(Ċ) biosorption
was typical of metal binding to biomass by means of
physicochemical interactions. Such particular behavior
Fig.1 Effect of pH on Cd( Ċ ) biosorption capacity using could be due to the non-homogeneity of the biomass
biosorbent R. cohnii at different Cd(Ċ) concentrations (contact surface which possesses functional groups differing in
time 12 h, dosage of 1 g/L at 298 K) dissociability and in cadmium adsorption rates[20].
There have been several reports[7, 17í18, 21] on
The pH values investigated were less than 7.0 since the use of different kinetic models to adjust the
insoluble cadmium hydroxide started precipitating from experimental data of heavy metals adsorption on
 LUO Jin-ming, et al/Trans. Nonferrous Met. Soc. China 20(2010) 1104í1111 1107
biosorbents. One of them is the pseudo-¿rst-order kinetic 3.3 Effect of dosage and reusability
model that considers the occupation rate of adsorption The economic possibility of a biosorbent is the
sites is proportional to the number of unoccupied sites. major issue in its application. This could be estimated by
Its equation[6] can be expressed as the dosage and reusability of the biosorbent.
The dosage effect of biosorbent R. cohnii was
ln(QeíQt)=íK1t+lnQe (1)
investigated at initial cadmium concentrations of 20, 50
where Qt and Qe are the amounts of metal ions adsorbed and 100 mg/L. The uptake of Cd(Ċ) decreased with
by the biosorbent at a given time of t and at equilibrium, increasing dosages. The maximum uptakes of cadmium
respectively; K1 is the biosorption rate constant. Linear were 3.6, 7.3 and 13.7 mg/g at the dosages of 1 g/L
plots of ln(QeíQt) vs t indicate the applicability of this (Fig.3).
kinetic model.
The other model is based on the fact that the
cadmium ions displace alkaline-earth ions (Ca2+ or Mg2+)
from the biosorption sites of biosorbents and, therefore,
with respect to the biosorption sites, the metal ions
sorption can be considered to be a pseudo-second-order
reaction[1]. The kinetics can be modeled assuming that
the occupation rate of adsorption sites is proportional to
the square of the number of unoccupied sites. Its
equation[6] can be expressed as
t t 1
 (2)
Qt Qe K 2 Qe2

where K2 is the constant rate of second-order biosorption.

The plot t/Qt vs t should give a straight line if second- Fig.3 Effect of dosage on Cd(Ċ) biosorption capacity by using
biosorbent R. cohnii at different initial concentrations at 298 K
order kinetics are applicable.
and pH 4.5
To evaluate the biosorption kinetics of cadmium
ions, the pseudo-first-order and pseudo-second-order
The lower the biomass dosage was, the more
kinetic models were used to fit the experimental data. As
feasible it would be to use. The biosorption capacity
shown in Table 1, the relative coefficient (R2) values of
decreased with increasing the biomass dosage. Similar
pseudo-second-order kinetics were all 0.99 which were
results were observed when other biomasses were
better than those of pseudo-first-order kinetics (0.92 for
employed as biosorbents to remove heavy metals, such
20 mg/L, 0.91 for 50 mg/L and 0.89 for 100 mg/L). as cadmium removal by a byproduct of L. edodes[11],
Moreover, the Qe values predicted from pseudo-second- lead, cadmium and zinc biosorption by Citrobacter strain
order kinetics were 4.0, 7.5 and 14.3 mg/g with initial MCMB-181[22] and biosorption of cadmium by black
concentrations of 20, 50 and 100 mg/L, respectively. gram husk (Cicer arientinum)[23]. The number of
These were closer to the experimental Qe values (3.8 binding sites available for adsorption was determined by
mg/g for 20 mg/L, 7.2 mg/g for 50 mg/L and 14.0 mg/g the dose of biomass added to the solution. A higher
for 100 mg/L) than the results from the pseudo-first- biosorption capacity at a lower biomass dosage could be
order kinetics, suggesting the cadmium biosorption attributed to an increased ratio of metal to biosorbent,
mechanism was ion exchange. The cadmium ions which decreased with an increase in biomass dosage[22].
displace alkaline-earth ions (Ca2+ or Mg2+) from the The desorption experiment was performed by 0.1
biosorption sites of biomass[1, 6]. mol/L HNO3 after adsorption. The results showed that

Table 1 Biosorption rate constants and Qe values from pseudo-¿rst-order and pseudo-second-order kinetics for biosorption of
cadmium on biosorbent
Cadmium Expt. Qe/ Pseudo-¿rst-order kinetic Pseudo-second-order kinetic
concentration/(mg·Lí1) (mg·gí1) í1
Cal. Qe/(mg·g ) í1
K1/(g·mg ·h ) í1
R 2
Cal. Qe/(mg·gí1) K2/(g·mgí1·hí1) R2
20 3.8 2.3 0.8 0.92 4.0 1.1 0.99
50 7.2 4.3 1.5 0.91 7.5 0.8 0.99
100 14.0 8.0 1.7 0.89 14.3 0.6 0.99
Expt.üExperimental; Cal.üCalculated.
1108 LUO Jin-ming, et al/Trans. Nonferrous Met. Soc. China 20(2010) 1104í1111
the sorption capacity of biosorbent R. cohnii did not procedure[6]. Several isotherm equations have been used
significantly decrease after five cycles. As shown in for equilibrium models of biosorption systems. The two
Table 2, over 80% of the sorption capacities remained most commonly used isotherm equations, the Langmuir
after five adsorption-desorption cycles. The sorption and Freundlich, have been applied in this study:
capacity only decreased by 0.7, 0.9 and 2.3 mg/g at the
Ue 1 U
initial Cd(Ċ) concentrations of 20, 50 and 100 mg/L,  e (3)
q bQmax Qmax
respectively. Moreover, the desorption efficiencies were
all above 95% during five cycles at different initial where Qmax (mg/g) is the maximum amount of metal ion
Cd(Ċ) concentrations. per unit mass of adsorbent to form a complete monolayer
The application possibility of adsorbents depends on the surface; b is the equilibrium adsorption constant,
not only on the sorptive capacity, but also on how well and is related to the affinity of the binding sites. Qmax
the biomass can be reused. The reusability of biosorbent represents a practical limiting adsorption capacity when
R. cohnii was evaluated by repeating the adsorption and the surface is fully covered with metal ions. It allows the
desorption experiments for five times. The high comparison of adsorption performance, particularly in
desorption efficiency indicated that nitric acid was the the case of where the adsorbent was not fully saturated.
efficient desorbent agent for cadmium desorption (Table
1
2). Its efficiency is based on the competition between the ln q ln K  ln U e (4)
n
protons and the cadmium ions adsorbed by the
where K and n are the Freundlich constants’ system
biosorbent, which will be released if the eluant
characteristics, indicating the adsorption capacity and
concentration is high enough and there is not a steric
impediment[24]. However, excessive amounts of
adsorption intensity, respectively[1].
hydrogen ions could reduce the biosorption capacity of Both of them represent the equilibrium amount of
the biomass[7]. Therefore, the reuse of the biomass in metal removed (q) as a function of the equilibrium
biosorption after elution of biosorbed cadmium ions will concentration (ȡe) of metal ions in the solution,
require hydrogen ions to be removed from the biomass. corresponding to the equilibrium distribution of ions
In this case, the biomass was regenerated by being between aqueous and solid phases as the initial
washed with deionized water until the pH of the wash concentration increases. To measure each isotherm,
solution was in the range of 5.0í5.5. It was noticed that initial cadmium concentrations were varied while the
the first acid treatment was responsible for more than biomass mass in each sample was kept constant.
half of the biosorption decrease (Table 2). However, the Equilibrium periods of 2 h for sorption experiments were
decrease of sorption capacity at different initial Cd(Ċ) used to ensure equilibrium conditions. This time was
concentrations was not significant after five cycles. chosen considering the results of kinetics, which was
Similar deleterious effect of the acid treatment on the determined previously.
biomass was also observed when endophytic fungus (EF) To estimate the cadmium uptake capacity of
Microsphaeropsis sp. LSE10 was used as biosorbent[1]. biosorbent R. cohnii, we did not only compare its
performance with other reported biosorbents, but also
3.4 Effect of initial concentration employed activated carbon, a widely and practically used
Analysis of equilibrium data is important for adsorbent, as control adsorbents to run the sorption
developing an equation that can be used to compare capacities comparison experiments.
different biomaterials under different operational The initial concentration of metal ions in the
conditions and to design and optimize an operating solution plays a key role as a driving force to overcome

Table 2 Desorption of Cd(Ċ) from biosorbent R. cohnii at different initial concentrations of Cd(Ċ) for five times
20 mg/L 50 mg/L 100 mg/L
Cycle Sorption Desorption Sorption Desorption Sorption Desorption
capacity/(mg·gí1) efficiency/% capacity/(mg·gí1) efficiency/% capacity/(mg·gí1) efficiency/%

1 3.8 99.7 7.3 98.8 13.9 99.1

2 3.4 99.6 6.6 97.1 12.4 98.4

3 3.4 96.9 6.5 96.4 11.9 97.6

4 3.2 96.1 6.5 96.1 11.8 96.7

5 3.1 95.0 6.4 95.4 11.6 96.1

 LUO Jin-ming, et al/Trans. Nonferrous Met. Soc. China 20(2010) 1104í1111 1109
the mass transfer resistance between the aqueous and Table 4 Comparison of Langmuir estimated Qmax among
solid phases[25]. Therefore, the sorption capacity was different reported adsorbents for Cd(Ċ) biosorption
expected to be higher with a higher initial concentration. Qmax
As shown in Fig.4, the sorption capacity of both Adsorbent Ref.
In mg/g In mmol/g
adsorbents increased with the equilibrium concentration
Wheat straw, T. aestivum 4.88 0.13 [25]
of metal ions in the solution. The activated carbon
performed better sorption capacity than biosorbent R. Rhizopus arrhizus í 0.27 [26]
cohnii when the equilibrium cadmium concentration was Pretreated Rhizopus oryzae í 0.31 [27]
below 100 mg/L. However, when the equilibrium Mucor rouxii 8.46 í [28]
cadmium concentration was higher than 100 mg/L, the Clinoptilonite í 0.21 [29]
situation was converse. This indicated the great potential
Granulated activated carbon í 0.07 [30]
application of R. cohnii as a biosorbent to treat cadmium
wastewater at high concentrations. Activated carbon 22.1 0.20 This study
Biosorbent R. cohnii 40.5 0.36 This study

adsorbents is always achieved by comparing the

parameters (such as Qmax and/or b) calculated from the
same models (Langmuir and/or Freundlich models are
most used). However, these comparisons only make
sense under such preconditions: 1) The biosorbents
should adsorb only the same adsorbate; 2) As the
optimum performance conditions (external factors like
pH, e.g.) for one adsorbent may be different for another,
the optimal conditions should be determined previously
and the sorption experiments should be done under their
optimal conditions, respectively; 3) The data acquired
from the experiments should be fitted to the calculated
models (R2 ˚ 0.9). Only the three pre- conditions
Fig.4 Isotherm curves of Cd(Ċ) sorption by biosorbent R. mentioned above are satisfied, these data (parameters)
cohnii and activated carbon at optimal conditions are comparable. Consequently, the sorption capacities
comparison experiments were performed at their
The maximum biosorption capacities of these two optimum conditions which were determined previously
adsorbents for cadmium( Ċ ) ions (Qmax) could be (1 g/L adsorbents concentration, pH 6.5 for activated
calculated from the Langmuir model. As can be seen in carbon, pH 4.5 for biosorbent R. cohnii, 150 r/min, 298
Table 3, the relative coefficient (R2) revealed that the K). The data acquired from both the experiments and
sorption data of activated carbon and biosorbent R. literatures were all fitted to Langmuir models (R2˚0.99,
cohnii fit both models, especially the Langmuir model Table 3).
(R2˚0.99). The Qmax of biosorbent R. cohnii was 40.5
mg/g which was almost two times that of activated 3.5 Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) analysis
carbon (22.1 mg/g). In addition, it was higher than the Numerous chemical groups have been proposed to
Qmax values of other reported cadmium treatment be responsible for the biosorption of metals. They
adsorbents (Table 4). include carboxyl, sulphonate, hydroxyl and amino[31].
Comparison of the performances of different Their relative importance in metal sorption may depend
on factors such as the quantity of sites, accessibility,
Table 3 Langmuir and Freundlich isotherm parameters for chemical state and affinity between site and metal
Cd( Ċ ) biosorption on biosorbent R. cohnii and activated [32í33]. FTIR was an important tool to identify the
carbon at optimal conditions functional groups. The vibrancy signals before and after
biosorption of cadmium were different. The functional
Langmuir model Freundlich model
Adsorbent groups and the corresponding wave numbers were
Qmax/ b/
R2 K n R2 identified in this study compared with other research
(mg·gí1) (mL·mgí1)
[33í35]. The assignment of FTIR bands and detailed
Activated
22.1 16.0 0.99 1.27 0.54 0.89 wavenumber shifts for the biosorbent R. cohnii are
carbon
Biosorbent summarized in Table 5. The shift of adsorption peak
40.5 5.5 0.99 3.03 0.70 0.95 from 3 350 to 3 410 cmí1 indicated that the hydroxyl
R. cohnii
1110 LUO Jin-ming, et al/Trans. Nonferrous Met. Soc. China 20(2010) 1104í1111
group had been changed from multimer to monopolymer agent for cadmium desorption. This suggested that the
or even dissociative state[36], which meant that the biosorbent R. cohnii had great potential for practical
degree of the hydroxyl polymerization in biosorbent application.
surface was decreased by the addition of Cd( Ċ ). It 4) The biosorption capacity increased with the
offered more opportunity for Cd(Ċ) to be bound to the increase of cadmium concentration. The best simulated
hydroxyl groups. Another change in the spectrum was model to biosorption data was Langmuir model with the
the carboxyl. The adsorption peaks around 1 740 and relative coefficient (R2) of 0.99 at pH around 4.5. The
1 490 cmí1 were not observed after adsorption. In maximum uptake of cadmium was 40.5 mg/g which was
addition, the adsorption peaks were shifted from 1 650, higher than that of many other reported adsorbents.
1 205 and 1 040 cmí1 to 1 630, 1 210 and 1 080 cmí1. Fourier transform infrared analysis indicated that
This indicated that the carboxylic groups of cell wall carboxyl, amino and hydroxyl groups on biosorbent R.
biopolymers were active in metal sequestering[37]. cohnii surface were responsible for the biosorption of
cadmium.
Table 5 Association between bands observed in FTIR spectra
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