Improved adsorptive removal of cadmium from water by hybrid chemically and biologically carbonaceous sorbents

The novelty in this submitted work is mainly based on the direct hybridization of sorption properties of active carbon (AC) sorbent with those characteristics of baker's yeast for the formation of novel environmental friendly hybrid chemically and biologically treated AC sorbents. Such hybrid combination was proved to be highly efficient in optimization of the cadmium extraction capabilities and characteristics incorporated into these materials. The potential applications of hybrid AC sorbents for removal of cadmium from various real water matrices were also explored and evaluated. [Display omitted] ► Environmental friendly hybrid chemically and biologically treated AC sorbents. ► Highly efficient capabilities of the hybrid sorbents for cadmium extraction. ► Sorption of cadmium was monitored by various optimized factors. ► Excellent recovery of cadmium from real water samples. A method is described for enhancement and improvement of the adsorptive efficiency of active carbon (AC) sorbent for cadmium ion by affordable chemical treatment with acid, base, oxidizing and reducing agents followed by biological surface immobilization of baker's yeast. Chemically and biologically treated AC sorbents were investigated by using Fourier Transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and scanning electron microscope (SEM). The sorption properties of modified AC sorbents for Cd(II) were also studied, evaluated and optimized in presence of various experimental controlling factors. The results of this study referred to the superior cadmium uptake by chemically and/or biologically treated AC sorbents compared to untreated AC. The highest determined cadmium sorption capacity value (265 μmol g −1) was characterized by reduced active carbon-immobilized-baker's yeast. The potential applications of chemically and biologically treated carbonaceous sorbents for removal and extraction of cadmium from real water matrices were also studied by using a multi-stage micro-column technique. The results of this study were found to refer to superior recovery values of cadmium (90.0–98.0 ± 3.0–5.0%) without the interference of matrix types.