Equilibrium and kinetic studies of copper(II) removal by three species of dead fungal biomasses

The batch experiments were conducted to study the copper(II) removal by formaldehyde inactivated Cladosporium cladosporioides, Gliomastix murorum and Bjerkandera sp., at conditions of agitation speed of 150 rpm, temperature of 25 °C, biosorbent dose of 2 g l−1 and contact time of 12 h. It was found that, for each biomass, the optimum pH was 6.0 and the equilibrium establishing time was about 2 h. Without acid or alkali treatment for improving adsorption properties, the experimental maximum copper(II) biosorptions were relatively high: 7.74 mg g−1 for C. cladosporioides, 9.01 mg g−1 for G. murorum, and 12.08 mg g−1 for Bjerkandera sp.. The biosorption data of all the dead fungal biomasses were quite fitted to Langmuir isotherm model and pseudo second-order kinetic model; first-order Lagergren kinetic model gave good adjustment to the data of Bjerkandera sp. but did not fit the data of C. cladosporioides and G. murorum very well. These fungal biomasses exhibited relatively high capacity for the removal of copper(II) from aqueous solutions.