FRESENIUS ENVIRONMENTAL BULLETIN, vol.22, pp.3725-3729, 2013 (SCI-Expanded)
In this study, the removal of Cu(II) and Pb(II) ions from aqueous solutions using the brown algae Padina pavonica J.V. Lamouroux 1816 was studied, and the effects of solution pH, the contact time, and the initial metal concentration on biosorption were investigated. The pH affected the biosorption capacity, and optimum pH value was 6 for both ions, and the sorption process reached equilibrium in 30 min. The application of Freundlich and Langmuir isotherm models showed that the type of adsorption (physical and chemical) changed, depending on the selected metal. According to recovery studies, the best eluents were 0.1 M HCl for the Cu(II) ions and 0.1 M HNO3 for the Pb(II) ions. Therefore, the removal of Pb(II) was more efficient than that of Cu(II) when P. pavonica was used as a biosorbent.