Fungal biosorption and biosorbents

Abstract

The common filamentous fungi can sorb heavy metals from aqueous solutions. Fungal biosorption largely depends on parameters such as pH, metal ion and biomass concentration, physical or chemical pretreatment of biomass, presence of various ligands in solution, and to a limited extent on temperature. The cell-wall fraction of biomass plays an important role in the sorption of heavy metals. The fungal biosorbents widely used for heavy metal removal are reviewed in this chapter, mainly focusing on their performance, pretreatment, regeneration/reuse, modeling of biosorption, their potential application and future. The potential of fungal biomass as sorbents has been established by the available data, and more research and development of the fungal biosorption technology is recommended. The mismatch between strong scientific progress in the field of biosorption and lack of commercialization of research is evident. © 2011 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.