IJSR - International Journal of Scientific Research

Ramsenthil Ramadoss; Dhanasekaran Subramaniam

Volume : VIII, Issue : II, February - 2019

ADSORPTION OF CADMIUM USING BLUE GREEN ALGAE: APPLICABILITY OF ISOTHERMS AND MODELING

Ramsenthil Ramadoss, Dhanasekaran Subramaniam

Abstract :

The maximum adsorption capacity of blue green algae (BGA) is investigated through adsorption of Cd (II) from aqueous solution at optimum experimental conditions by varying the initial Cd (II) ion concentration. the maximum adsorption capacity of BGA is found to be 19.9 mg/g at the optimum experimental condition of pH is 6, 2 gm biomass loading, 120 rpm agitation speed and 24 hrs of contact time. The experimental data infers that the isotherm is L shape which indicates, no strong competition between solvent and Cd (II) to occupy the active sites of BGA. One, Two, Three, Four and Five parameter isotherm models are analysed with experimental data to identify the adsorption mechanism. Langmuir isotherm model is found to highly significant. The q_max value of Langmuir model 20.09 mg/g which is very much closer to the experimental q_max value. The Redlich–Peterson β_RP is found to be 0.8354 which is close to 1. Hence Redlich–Peterson isotherm model approaches to Langmuir model. This implication is highly supported to arrive that the mechanism of adsorption of Cd (II) by BGA is governed by Langmuir model.