Biosorption of cadmium, manganese, nickel, lead, and zinc ions by Aspergillus tamarii

In this paper, Cd2+, Mn2+, Ni2+, Pb2+, and Zn2+ heavy metals ions adsorption properties of commercially obtained Aspergillus tamarii were investigated. The dead biomass was used with a batch system for experiments. The effect of the operating parameters, such as pH, temperature, agitation speed, contact time, initial metal concentration, and biomass dosage of aqueous solution containing Cd2+, Mn2+, Ni2+, Pb2+, and Zn2+ was studied to find biosorption capacity. The optimum pH range for all heavy metal uptakes was 6.0. The experiments were carried out at different temperatures in the range of 20–50°C and the maximum uptake was found to be at 25°C. Heavy metal ion uptake increased with agitation speed until 150 rpm. After this agitation speed adsorption capacity slightly decreased. The adsorption equilibrium was obtained at 150 min contact time. At the optimal conditions, maximum uptake of Cd2+, Mn2+, Ni2+, Pb2+, and Zn2+ was found to be 51.69, 46.99, 58.74, 98.14, and 54.33%, respectively, by using 1.5g biomass. The interaction between heavy metals and biomass was characterized by FTIR spectroscopy.