BIOSORPTIVE FLOTATION IN METAL-IONS RECOVERY

Heavy metals can be removed from dilute aqueous solutions in many ways. Among the innovative ones may be classified a process consisting of biosorption followed by flotation. A metal cation, cadmium, was examined; the metal was abstracted by microorganisms belonging to the Actinomycetes, i.e., Streptomyces clavuligerus and Streptomyces griseus, which have a filamentous morphology, and hence present a flocculent character. Dissolved-air flotation was the technique applied on a laboratory scale without the addition of any flotation surfactant. The parameters investigated in the batch mode were contact time, recycle ratio, solution pH, Cd concentration, biomass addition, and use of a frother (ethanol). Promising results were obtained; in certain cases an almost quantitative cadmium abstraction, followed by higher than 90% biomass recovery, was found.