Natural freshwater surface coatings(biofilms and associated minerals), which were developed in the Nanhu Lake, Changchun, P. R. China, were used as an efficient biosorbent for the removal of Cd(Ⅱ) from aqueous solutions. The batch experiments were carried out to determine the adsorption properties of Cd(Ⅱ) onto the natural surface coatings. The classical Langmuir adsorption isotherm was applied to estimating the equilibrium coefficients of Cd(Ⅱ) adsorbed on the surface coatings. The results show that the maximum adsorption capacity of the surface coatings is 434.78 μmol Cd/m2(being equal to 0.17 mmol Cd/g of surface coatings or 10.38 mmol Cd/g Fe) and the Cd(Ⅱ) removal from solution media by the natural surface coatings was shown to be strongly affected by solution pH and ion strength. The resulted information also indicates that the maximum Cd removal efficiency(CRE) was determined to be approximately 90% at initial Cd mass concentration of 0.1 mg/L(the concentration limit of Cd (Ⅱ) in wastewaters for discharge in aquatic media in Chinese legislation), and the kinetic adsorption of Cd(Ⅱ) onto the surface coatings is fast with around 70% of the total adsorption-taking place in 150 min in solution under the controlled laboratory conditions (mineral salts solution with defined speciation, ionic strength 0.05 mol/L, and 25 ℃). With the advantage of high Cd adsorption capacity, the natural surface coatings appear to be a potentially effective biosorbent for the removal and recovery of Cd (Ⅱ) from polluted water.
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