Biosorption of phenol by Aspergillus niger biomass.

摘要

Phenols in trace quantities are usually present in the treated effluent of many wastewater treatment plants. Phenol contamination of drinking water even at 1 μg/L concentration can cause significant taste and odor problems. Activated carbon used generally as an adsorbent to remove phenol is very expensive and its high cost limits its widespread use. This study investigates the use of non-viable pretreated cells of Aspergillus niger for their capacity to remove phenol from an aqueous solution. Living cells of A. niger were pretreated by five different methods and were made non-viable by autoclaving. Sulphuric acid-treated non-viable biomass powder, which was the most effective, was used as a biosorbent in a further study. The maximum removal of phenol was observed at an initial pH of 5.1 for the sulphuric acid-treated biomass. The adsorption of phenol by pretreated A. niger biomass was best described by the BET model. Desorption of phenol using distilled deionized water was found to be approximately 5% suggesting a strong biosorption by the biomass. Sulphuric acid-treated biomass beads developed through immobilization in polysulphone were used in a column study. Approximately 66% of phenol was removed in the column operated at an initial pH of 5.1 and an initial concentration of 1000 μg/L of phenol.