Batch and continuous biosorption of Cu2+ by immobilized biomass of Arthrobacter sp.

The ability of free and polysulphone immobilized biomass of Arthrobacter sp. to remove Cu2+ 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 (Qo) was 175.87 and 158.7 mg/g for free and immobilized biomass respectively at pH 5.0 and 30 °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 Cu2+ uptake process followed the pseudo-second-order rate expression. The diffusivity of Cu2+ on immobilized beads increased (0.402 × 10−4 to 0.435 × 10−4 cm2/s) with increasing concentration from 50 to 150 mg/L. The maximum percentage Cu2+ removal (89.56%) and uptake (32.64 mg/g) were found at 3.5 mL/min and 20 cm 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.