Biosorption Potential of the Black Yeast Hortaea werneckii SAHE for Removal of Toxic Hexavalent Chromium from Aqueous Solutions

Abdel Ghani Et Al., Safaa A.

doi:10.21608/ejabf.2024.374271

Biosorption Potential of the Black Yeast Hortaea werneckii SAHE for Removal of Toxic Hexavalent Chromium from Aqueous Solutions

Document Type : Original Article

Author

Safaa A. Abdel Ghani et al.

10.21608/ejabf.2024.374271

Abstract

Contamination of aquatic environment by hexavalent chromium Cr (VI) is a major threat due to its health and environmental risks. The biosorption ofCr (VI) using various microorganisms has been extensively examined. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the effectiveness of using the dead biomass of the black yeast Hortaea werneckii SAHE, isolated from sediment samples collected from a solar saltern, as a biosorbent for the removal of Cr (VI). The yeast surface characteristics were examined, and batch experiments were applied to get isothermal and kinetic data. The results revealed that the biosorption process followed the pseudo-second order and intra-particle diffusion kinetic models. The experimental data closely matched both Dubinin–Radushkevich and Langmiur isotherms with a maximum sorption capacity of 4.44mg/ g. The calculated thermodynamic parameters (ΔG°, ΔH° and ΔS°) indicated that the biosorption of Cr (VI) ions onto H.werneckii was feasible, endothermic and spontaneous. A complete removal of Cr (VI) ions was recorded at a concentration of 10mg/ L at room temperature and a pH value of 1.0 after 15min. This study demonstrated that the toxic Cr (VI) could be effectively removed from different wastewater samples by H.werneckii biomass with an adsorption efficiency ranging between 89.06 and 91.95%.

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