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RESEARCH PRODUCT
BIOALGA reactor: preliminary studies for heavy metals removal
L. TraviesoRafael BorjaN E O'farrillEnrique SánchezA. PellónF. BenitezP. Weilandsubject
Environmental EngineeringChromatographyPeriod (periodic table)ChemistryInorganic chemistryBiomedical EngineeringBioengineeringHeavy metalsMetalWastewaterScenedesmus obliquusvisual_artBatch processingvisual_art.visual_art_mediumCobalt ionsKinetic constantBiotechnologydescription
Abstract Microalgae have a high affinity for polyvalent metals, for that reason they could be used to reduce the concentration of heavy metals present in water and wastewater. In the present work an evaluation of a rotary biofilm reactor for algae immobilization (BIOALGA) with the subject of heavy metal removal was investigated. The BIOALGA reactor consisted of a pilot scale model that was operated with synthetic wastewater with an initial concentration of 3000 μg/l of cobalt ion. Scenedesmus obliquus was immobilized in the reactor, which was operated in batch mode for a period of 20 days. The rotary velocity used, 2 rpm, was constant during the experiment. A maximum removal of cobalt ion of 94.5% was reached at 10 days. The experimental results obtained were evaluated using a pseudo first-order kinetic model to obtain values for the kinetic constant and the maximum cobalt ion removal efficiency of the process. The proposed model predicted accurately the behaviour of the reactor, showing deviations lower than 7% between the experimental and theoretical values of cobalt ion removal efficiencies.
year | journal | country | edition | language |
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2002-11-01 | Biochemical Engineering Journal |