Biosorption mechanism of Cu2+ by innovative immobilized spent substrate of fragrant mushroom biomass

To solve the problem of heavy metal pollution and agricultural wastes reclamation, immobilized spent substrate of fragrant mushroom (ISSFM) by sodium alginate-polyvinyl alcohol (SA-PVA) was used as potential adsorbents to remove Cu2+ from aqueous solution. The biosorption of Cu2+ on ISSFM was studied as a function of the solution pH, adsorption temperature and initial Cu2+ concentration. SEM-EDX and XRD were used to explore the surface morphology and elemental composition in addition to reveal Cu(NH3)3(NO3)2 and Cu(NH4)2H2(PO4)2·4H2O etc. are the main compounds existing in metal-loaded SSFM. FTIR analysis pointed out the governing functional groups such as OH, NH, CO and PO played an important role in biosorption. The results indicated that ISSFM showed great potential in wastewater treatment due to its great sorption capacity and low cost.