Biosorption of Nickel Ion by Chitosan-immobilized Brown Algae Laminaria japonica

W. Fan and Z. Xu

Abstract
Highly toxic nickel is released into the environment from a number of industrial processes, but current techniques for its removal are expensive and may cause secondary pollution. We developed a biosorbent of chitosan-immobilized brown algae (Laminaria japonica). The effects of different parameters on the adsorption capacity and biosorption-desorption of Ni2+ from aqueous solution were evaluated. Kinetic studies showed that the adsorption of Ni2+ by the immobilized algal beads followed second-order kinetics. When the adsorbent dose was increased, the biosorption capacity decreased and the removal efficiency increased. Ni2+ biosorption by the immobilized algae cell beads was a good fit for the Langmuir and Freundlich isotherm models. In addition, the regenerated biosorbent by 1 mol L–1 HCl or 1 mol L–1 HNO3 could be reused, and maintained 90 % removal efficiency for at least three cycles.

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Keywords
adsorption, chitosan, immobilization, nickel, Laminaria japonica