COPPER(II) BIOSORPTION CHARACTERISTICS OF A NOVEL BIOSORBENT COMBINATION: FUNGUS AND AGRICULTURAL WASTE

摘要

All previous attempts have examined fungus and agricultural waste separately. The present work is therefore novel as it uses a combination of fungus and agricultural waste for removal of copper(II) from aqueous solutions. The biosorbent was corn stalk fermented by Aspergillus niger (fermented corn stalk). Results show that the content of O in fermented corn stalk, compared with that of in raw corn stalk, declined as the C, N, P, and K increased, and that the zeta potential was lower. Fermented corn stalk exhibited a short biosorption equilibrium time (60 min), high biosorption capacity (11.2 mg/g), and high removal efficiency at pH 3. The fact that the biosorption capacity of fermented corn stalk was better than that of raw corn stalk under identical conditions can be attributed to the sprawl of Aspergillus niger (biosorption capacity was better than raw corn stalk)and the enzyme system secreted by Aspergillus niger which changed the surface properties of raw corn stalk. The biosorption mechanism was involved in chelation with functional groups such as N-H, C=O, C-O, and C=C, and the biosorption data obtained were well described by the pseudo-second order and the Freundlich isotherm model.