Biosorption of Lead from Wastewater Using Fresh Water Algae Chlorella

Abstract

The potential use of fresh water algae Chlorella to sorb lead ions from wastewater was evaluated in this study. Fourier transform infra-red analysis of algal species revealed the presence of amino, carboxylic, hydroxyl and carbonyl groups, which were responsible for biosorption of lead ions Batch sorption experiments were perfomed to determine the effects of contact time, biosorbent dosage and pH on the adsorption of Phions. The optimum conditions of biosorbent dosage, pH and contact time were found to be 10g/L, 5 and 100 min respectively. The applicability of the Langmuir and Freundlich isotherms for representation of the experimental data was investigated. The adsorption of lead ions on the algae Chlorella fitted well with Freundlich isotherm with a very high correlation coefficient.