On the biosorption, by brown seaweed, Lobophora variegata, of Ni(II) from aqueous solutions: equilibrium and thermodynamic studies.

The biosorption equilibrium isotherms of Ni(II) onto marine brown algae Lobophora variegata, which was chemically-modified by CaCl(2) were studied and modeled. To predict the biosorption isotherms and to determine the characteristic parameters for process design, twenty-three one-, two-, three-, four- and five-parameter isotherm models were applied to experimental data. The interaction among biosorbed molecules is attractive and biosorption is carried out on energetically different sites and is an endothermic process. The five-parameter Fritz-Schluender model gives the most accurate fit with high regression coefficient, R (2) (0.9911-0.9975) and F-ratio (118.03-179.96), and low standard error, SE (0.0902-0.0.1556) and the residual or sum of square error, SSE (0.0012-0.1789) values to all experimental data in comparison to other models. The biosorption isotherm models fitted the experimental data in the order: Fritz-Schluender (five-parameter) > Freundlich (two-parameter) > Langmuir (two-parameter) > Khan (three-parameter) > Fritz-Schluender (four-parameter). The thermodynamic parameters such as DeltaG (0), DeltaH (0) and DeltaS (0) have been determined, which indicates the sorption of Ni(II) onto L. variegata was spontaneous and endothermic in nature.