HybridSargassum-sand sorbent: A novel adsorbent in packed column to treat metal-bearing wastewaters from inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectrometry

Abstract

Laboratory batch and column experiments were carried out to examine the efficiency of algal-based treatment technique to clean-up wastewaters emanating from inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES). Chemical characterization revealed the extreme complexity of the wastewater, with the presence of 14 different metals under very low pH (pH = 1.1), high conductivity (6.98 mS/cm), total dissolved solid (4.46 g/L) and salinity (3.77). Batch experiments using Sargassum biomass indicated that it was possible to attain high removal efficiencies at optimum pH of 4.0. Efforts were also made to continuously treat ICP-OES wastewater using up-flow packed column. However, swelling of Sargassum biomass leads to stoppage of column. To address the problem, Sargassum was mixed with sand at a ratio of 40: 60 on volume basis. Remarkably, the hybrid Sargassum-sand sorbent showed very high removal efficiency towards multiple metal ions with the column able to operate for 11 h at a flow rate of 10 mL/min. Metal ions such as Cu, Cd, and Pb were only under trace levels in the treated water until 11 h. The results of the treatment process were compared with trade effluent discharge standards. Further the process evaluation and cost analysis were presented.

Is biosorption suitable for decontamination of metal-bearing wastewaters? A critical review on the state-of-the-art of biosorption processes and future directions

“…Hence, an additional treatment step is required to neutralize the effluents produced by biosorption treatments. Some biosorbents such as seaweeds tend to swell and block the liquid flow, especially in flow-through columns (Schiewer and Wong, 2000;Vijayaraghavan and Joshi, 2013). Furthermore, it is well known that most of the biosorbents have no or less affinity toward anions such as nitrate and phosphate.…”

The complexity of biosorption treatments for oxyanions in a multi-element mine effluent

“…Algal-based biosorption has long been proposed as a sustainable and cost-effective means of treating industrial effluents, however, there has been little application of the approach at scale (Volesky, 2001;Gadd, 2009;Vijayaraghavan and Joshi, 2013). There are two possible explanations for this limited application.…”

“…The behavior of a biosorbent in real-world effluents, such as mine effluents, is much more complex than the behavior in mock solutions (Kidgell et al 2014). The advantage of examining biosorption capacities using real-world effluents is that it offers insight into potential interactions among elements (Vijayaraghavan and Joshi, 2013) and specifically the differences between metals and metalloids (Kidgell et al 2014). The presence of non-target elements with similar properties may impede the uptake of the target element due to competition for common uptake sites (Brix et al 2001;Hamilton, 2004).…”

Lead in Plants: A Brief Review of Its Effects, Mechanisms Toxicological and Remediation

“…Several studies provided the results of experiments of lead biosorption in effluents from batteries (CHAKRAVARTY et al, 2010), electroplating (MACHADO et al, 2010); gold mining (BENAVENTE et al, 2011), industrial (VIMALA et al, 2011 and laboratory effluents (VIJAYARAGHAVAN & BALASUBRAMANIAN, 2013;VIJAYARAGHAVAN & JOSHI, 2013). However, several techniques are still at a laboratory stage and required adaptation to environmental scale, with variable costs for their development.…”