Bioaccumulation and biosorption of copper and lead by a unicellular algae Chlamydomonas reinhardtii in single and binary metal systems: A comparative study

A comparative evaluation of bioaccumulation and biosorption of Cu (II) and Pb (II) ions by algal cells of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii was conducted in single and binary metal systems. Experiments were performed in solutions containing 5 x 10(-7) M of free metal at 30 degrees C and pH 6. Algal cells were used in the concentration of 0.2 g/L. Both processes tend to be more important as contact time between heavy metals and algal cells increases. Under studied conditions, dead cells showed higher removal efficiency than living cells for both metal ions. Removal efficiency of Pb increases from 8% to 40% when comparing the results obtained by living cells and dead cells. For Cu (II) ions, the removal efficiency of dead cells was about 2 times higher than living cells (55% vs. 28%). Living cells showed similar bioaccumulation capacity for both ions. Synergistic and antagonistic effects between copper and lead were observed in binary metal systems which imply that bioaccumulation process is much more dynamic than assumed in the equilibrium models. In contrast, dead algal cells showed a higher affinity for Pb (II) ions compared to Cu (11) ions and no competitive effect was observed in the biosorption of copper and lead by the inert cells in binary metal mixtures. Biosorption of Cu (II) and Pb (II) seems to occur at different binding sites on the surface of algal biomass. The obtained results showed that the mostly advantageous process of metal ions binding is biosorption and the biomass of C. reinhardtii is suitable for the development of an efficient and economic biosorbent for the removal of heavy metals from aqueous environments. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.