Biosorptive separation of 'labile' fractions of copper and lead from river sediments and evaluation by differential pulse, anodic stripping voltammetry

Abstract

The 'labile' copper and lead metal contents of contaminated sediments were extracted in different chemical solutions and then subjected for biosorptive separations. The sorbents called 'AlgaSORB-sp' and 'AlgaSORB-ch' were derived from two different algae, viz., Spirogyra and Chlorella, respectively. The metal detection was made by differential pulse, anodic stripping voltammetry. The retention of 'labile' species onto biosorbents in dynamic mode at optimised conditions of pH 6.9 and flow rate 1.0 mL/min in AlgaSORB-sp (copper ion) and AlgaSORB-ch (lead ion) led metal fractionations into labile and strongly complexed forms, in realistic terms. Copyright © 2006 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.