The ability of free and
polysulphone immobilized biomass of
Arthrobacter sp. to remove Cu(2+)
ions from
aqueous solution was studied in batch and continuous systems. The
Langmuir and Freundlich isotherm models were applied to the data. The
Langmuir isotherm model was found to fit the
sorption data indicating that
sorption was
monolayer and uptake capacity (Q(o)) was 175.87 and 158.7mg/g for free and immobilized biomass respectively at pH 5.0 and 30 degrees C temperature, which was also confirmed by a high
correlation coefficient, a low
RMSE and a low
Chi-square value. A kinetic study was carried out with pseudo-first-order reaction and pseudo-second-order reaction equations and it was found that the Cu(2+) uptake process followed the pseudo-second-order rate expression. The diffusivity of Cu(2+) on immobilized
beads increased (0.402x10(-4) to 0.435x10(-4)cm(2)/s) with increasing concentration from 50 to 150mg/L. The maximum percentage Cu(2+) removal (89.56%) and uptake (32.64mg/g) were found at 3.5mL/min and 20cm
bed height. In addition to this the
Bed Depth Service Time (BDST) model was in good agreement with the experimental data with a high
correlation coefficient (>0.995). Furthermore,
sorption and
desorption studies were also carried out which showed that
polysulphone immobilized biomass could be reused for up to six sorption-desorption cycles.
