Heavy metals can be removed from effluents and recovered using physico-chemical mechanisms as biosorption processes. In this work "Arribada" seaweed biomass was employed to assess its biosorptive capacity for the chromium (Cr 3+ ) and lead (Pb 2+ ) cations that usually are present in waste waters of plating industries. Equilibrium and kinetic experiments were conducted in a mixed reactor on a batch basis. Biosorption equilibrium and fluidsolid mass transfer constants data were analyzed through the concept of ion exchange sorption isotherm. The respective equilibrium exchange constants (K eqCr = 173.42, K eqPb = 58.86) and volumetric mass transfer coefficients ((k mCr a) = 1.13 × 10 −3 s −1 , (k mPb a) = 0.89 × 10 −3 s −1 ) were employed for the dynamic analysis of Cr and Pb sorption in a fixed-bed flow-through sorption column. The breakthrough curves obtained for both metals were compared with the predicted values by the heterogeneous model (K eqCr = 171.29, K eqPb = 60.14; k mCr a = 7.81 × 10 −2 s −1 , k mPb a = 2.43 × 10 −2 s −1 ), taking into account the mass transfer process. The results suggest that these algae may be employed in a metal removal/recovery process at low cost.

The original version of this article unfortunately missed a co-author. Edmilson Santos de Lima is a contributing author to the article.