Characterization of biosorption process of As(III) on green algae Ulothrix cylindricum

Arsenic (As) is generally found as As(III) and As(V) in environmental samples. Toxicity of As(III) is higher than As(V). This paper presents the characteristics of As(III) biosorption from aqueous solution using the green algae (Ulothrix cylindricum) biomass as a function of pH, biomass dosage, contact time, and temperature. Langmuir, Freundlich and Dubinin-Radushkevich (D-R) models were applied to describe the biosorption isotherm of As(III) by U. cylindricum biomass. The biosorption capacity of U. cylindricum biomass was found as 67.2 mg/g. The metal ions were desorbed from U. cylindricum using 1 M HCl. The high stability of U. cylindricum permitted 10 times of adsorption-elution process along the studies with a slightly decrease about 16% in recovery of As(III) ions. The mean free energy value evaluated from the D-R model indicated that the biosorption of As(III) onto U. cylindricum biomass was taken place by chemical ion-exchange. The calculated thermodynamic parameters, ΔG°, ΔH° and ΔS° showed that the biosorption of As(III) onto U. cylindricum biomass was feasible, spontaneous and exothermic under examined conditions. Experimental data were also tested in terms of biosorption kinetics using pseudo-first-order and pseudo-second-order kinetic models. The results showed that the biosorption processes of As(III) followed well pseudo-second-order kinetics.