Biosorption behaviour of alginate-immobilized Trichoderma asperellum, a common microfungi in single- and multi-metal systems

ABSTRACT

Alginate-immobilized Trichoderma asperellum were superior in adsorbing metals in single-metal systems compared to multi-metal systems. Higher amounts of Cu(II), Zn(II) and Cd(II) were adsorbed in single-metal systems with 72.00, 20.61 and 51.77 mg metal removed g⁻¹ biosorbent, respectively, compared to multi-metal systems. On the contrary, only Pb(II) (112.70 mg g⁻¹ biosorbent) was removed more efficiently in multi-metal systems. Both biosorbents showed similar biosorption behaviour, with higher uptakes of Zn(II) < Cd(II) < Cu(II) < Pb(II) in both single- and multi-metal systems. This was attributed to the carboxyl and hydroxyl functional groups on the surface of alginate.

KEYWORDS:

• Alginate immobilization
• multi-metal systems
• single-metal systems
• Trichoderma asperellum

Acknowledgement

The authors are grateful to Monash University Malaysia for the facilities to conduct the study.

Additional information

Funding

This project supports a main project funded by the Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE) under the FRGS scheme (FRGS/2/2013/STWN01/MUSM/02/2).