Comparative study of the kinetics and equilibrium of phenol biosorption on immobilized white-rot fungus Phanerochaete chrysosporium from aqueous solution

[Display omitted] ► The biosorption process of phenol onto free, immobilized white-rot fungi and alginate beads was examined. ► The biosorption process follows pseudo second-order kinetics by all bioadsorbents. ► Phenol bioadsorption process follows an anti-Langmuir behavior for free fungal biomass and immobilized fungal biomass. ► The nonlinear estimation can be suggested for bioadsorption-equilibrium evaluation. In this study the kinetics and equilibrium of phenol biosorption were studied from aqueous solution using batch technique at an initial pH of 5.5. The biosorption was studied on Ca–alginate beads, on non-living mycelial pellets of Phanerochaete chrysosporium immobilized on Ca–alginate, and on free fungal biomass. Ph. chrysosporium was grown in a liquid medium containing mineral and vitamin materials with complex composition. The biosorption process followed pseudo second-order kinetics on all bioadsorbents. The bioadsorption-equilibrium on blank Ca–alginate, free and immobilized fungal biomass can be described by Langmuir, anti-Langmuir and Freundlich isotherm models using nonlinear least-squares estimation.