Biosorption of uranium(VI) from aqueous solutions by Ca-pretreated Cystoseira indica alga: Breakthrough curves studies and modeling

Uranium(VI) biosorption from aqueous solutions containing 60 mg l −1 metal concentration by Ca-pretreated Cystoseira indica alga was studied in a packed bed column with 1.5 cm internal diameter. The effect of bed height and flow rate on biosorption process was investigated and the experimental breakthrough curves were obtained. Results showed that by increasing the bed height, the breakthrough and exhaustion times increased and the slope of breakthrough curves decreased. Also, it was observed that the controlled-rate step shifted from external to internal mass transfer limitations, as the flow rate increased. The maximum uptake capacity, 318.15 mg g −1, and total metal removal, 59.32%, were obtained at flow rate of 2.3 ml min −1 and bed height of 6 cm. The column was regenerated using 0.1 M HCl solution and sorption–desorption studies were carried out for three cycles. The obtained results confirmed that reusability of this biosorbent is possible. The results obtained agreed well with the bed depth service time model. In addition, for estimations of the parameters necessary for the design of a large-scale packed bed column, the experimental data were also fitted to the Thomas, Yan and Belter models and were found to agree with the experimental data fairly well.