Heavy metal removal in a biosorption column by immobilized M. rouxii biomass.

Mucor rouxii biomass was immobilized in a polysulfone matrix. The spherical immobilized biomass beads were packed in a column. The biosorption column was able to remove metal ions such as Pb, Cd, Ni and Zn not only from single-component metal solutions but also from multi-component metal solutions. Column kinetics for metal removal were described by the Thomas model. For single-component metal solutions, the metal removal capacities of the beads for Pb, Cd, Ni and Zn were 4.06, 3.76, 0.36 and 1.36 mg/g, respectively. For a multi-component metal solution containing Cd, Ni and Zn, the capacities were 0.36, 0.31 and 0.40 mg/g for Cd, Ni and Zn, respectively. The adsorbed metal ions were easily desorbed from the beads with 0.05N HNO3 solution. After acid desorption and regeneration with deionized water, the beads could be reused to adsorb metal ions at a comparable capacity.