Application of four novel fungal strains to remove arsenic from contaminated water in batch and column modes

• Published in: Journal of hazardous materials 2018-08, Vol.356, p.98-107
• Main Authors: Jaiswal, Virendra, Saxena, Sangeeta, Kaur, Ispreet, Dubey, Priya, Nand, Sampurna, Naseem, Mariya, Singh, Suman B., Srivastava, Pankaj Kumar, Barik, Saroj Kanta
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adsorption isotherm; Arsenic; Biosorption; Immobilized fungal biomass; Kinetics; Sodium alginate
• ISSN: 0304-3894; 1873-3336
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2018.04.053

[Display omitted] •Initial arsenic concentration, contact time and pH, highly affect biosorption process.•Arsenic adsorbed by per gram immobilized biomass (mg g−1) as 70 (FNBR_3), 68 (FNBR_6), 113 (FNBR_13) and 90 (FNBR_19).•The biosorption data of four fungal strains were quite fitted to Langmuir isotherm model.•The pseudo second-order model gave good adjustments with adsorptive kinetic data of the four fungal strains under study.•Immobilized biomass of fungal strain appears to be the most efficient for industrial application for arsenic removal from contaminated water. Immobilized biomass of novel indigenous fungal strains FNBR_3, FNBR_6, FNBR_13, and FNBR_19 were evaluated for arsenic (As) removal from aqueous solution. Alginate beads containing 0.1 g biomass were used in a batch experiment (200 mg l−1 As; pH 6). Biosorption equilibrium established in first 2 h with As adsorption (mg g−1) as 70, 68, 113 and 90 by FNBR_3, FNBR_6, FNBR_13 and FNBR_19, respectively. The equilibrium was fitted to the Langmuir model (r2 = 0. 90-0.97). The absorption kinetic followed the pseudo second order. Changes in the surface of fungal cells and intracellular As-uptake by fungal biomass were also confirmed by scanning electron microscopy combined with X-ray energy dispersive spectrometer. The presence of different functional groups on fungal cells capable of As-binding was investigated by FTIR. The As-removal by immobilized fungal beads tested in the packed columns also. The As-adsorption by biomass (qe as mg g−1) were recorded as 59.5 (FNBR_3 and FNBR_6), 74.8 (FNBR_13), and 66.3 (FNBR_19) in the column and validated by Thomas model. This is the first report concerning the arsenic removal by immobilized biomass of these novel fungal strains from aqueous solution both in batch and column studies with a prospect of their further industrial application.