Biosorption of Cadmium Ions by Unmodified, Microwave and Ultrasound Modified Brewery and Pure Strain Yeast Biomass

Abstract

The present study investigates the biosorption of cadmium ions from aqueous solution onto unmodified, ultrasound and microwave treated cells of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. FTIR analysis was conducted to characterize the biosorbent. Equilibrium and kinetic studies of unmodified RBW (residual brewery waste) cell yeast and DSM 1333 (pure strain) were conducted by considering the effect of initial cadmium ions concentration. Results showed that the ultrasound and microwave treatments decrease the heavy metal uptake compared with the unmodified biomass. Langmuir and Freundlich isotherm models on both unmodified yeast cell types were used to analyze the equilibrium data. It was found that the Langmuir isotherm and pseudo-second-order kinetics models describe better the cadmium ions removal process.