Study on the characterization of lead (II) biosorption by fungus Aspergillus parasiticus

The lead (II) biosorption potential of Aspergillus parasiticus fungal biomass has been investigated in a batch system. The initial pH, biosorbent dosage, contact time, initial metal ion concentrations and temperature were studied to optimize the biosorption conditions. The maximum lead (II) biosorption capacity of the fungal biosorbent was found as 4.02 x 10(-4) mol g(--1) at pH 5.0 and 20 degrees C. The biosorption equilibrium was reached in 70 min. Equilibrium biosorption data were followed by the Langmuir, Freundlich and Dubinin-Radushkevich (D-R) isotherm models. In regeneration experiments, no significant loss of sorption performance was observed during four biosorption-desorption cycles. The interactions between lead (II) ions and biosorbent were also examined by FTIR and EDAX analysis. The results revealed that biosorption process could be described by ion exchange as dominant mechanism as well as complexation for this biosorbent. The ion exchange mechanism was confirmed by E value obtained from D-R isotherm model as well.