Calcium alginate as an eco-friendly supporting material for Baker's yeast strain in chromium bioremediation

In this study, Baker's yeast strain (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) biomass was immobilized in alginate extract 3% forming Biomass/Polymer Matrices Beads (BPMB). These beads were investigated for chromium biosorption from aqueous solution. Factors such as solution pH, contact times, temperature values, stirring rates, BPMB dosages and initial chromium ions concentrations were experimentally tested using repeated-batch process to determine the sorption capacity for chromium (VI) ions. Batch experiments were conducted at pH range from 1.5 to 7.5. The optimum pH value was 3.5 for direct chromium removal. The effect of chromium concentration was studied using different concentrations from 200 to 1000 ppm. Freundlich's isothermal model showed better representation of data than Langmuir's isothermal model with correlation coefficient 0.922. The maximum biosorption capacity of chromium was found to be 154 mg g−1 at initial concentration 200 ppm under optimum conditions. At the end of the experiments, BPMB were investigated for chromium biosorption from tannery effluent sample. Results showed decrease in chromium concentration up to 85%. The availability of recycling of the BPMB was also studied for three subsequent cycles. The surface sequestration of metal ions by BPMB was characterized before and after metal binding using a scanning electron microscope (SEM) equipped with an energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDXA) and FTIR spectroscopy in order to determine the mechanisms of chromium biosorption.