G. de la Rosa

Use of phytofiltration technologies in the removal of heavy metals: A review

Biosorption is a relatively new process that has proven very promising in the removal of contaminants from aqueous effluents. Microorganisms as well as plant- and animal-derived materials have been used as biosorbents by many researchers. Biomaterial immobilization and chemical modification improves the adsorption capacity and stability of biosorbents. Biosorption experiments over Cu(II), Cd(II), Pb(II), Cr(III), and Ni(II) demonstrated that biomass Cu(II) adsorption ranged from 8.09 to 45.9 mg g−1, while Cd(II) and Cr(VI) adsorption ranged from 0.4 to 10.8 mg g−1 and from 1.47 to 119 mg g−1, respectively. Mechanisms involved in the biosorption process include chemisorption, complexation, surface and pore adsorption-complexation, ion exchange, microprecipitation, hydroxide condensation onto the biosurface, and surface adsorption. Chemical modification and spectroscopic studies have shown that cellular components including carboxyl, hydroxyl, sulfate, sulfhydryl, phosphate, amino, amide, imine, and imidazol moieties have metal binding properties and are therefore the functional groups in the biomass. Column studies using support matrices for biomass immobilization such as silica, agar, polyacrilamide, polysulfone, alginates, cellulase, and different cross-linking agents have been performed to improve the biomass adsorption capacity and reusability. In this review, the salient features of plant-derived materials are highlighted as potential phytofiltration sources in the recovery of toxic heavy and precious metals.

Effects of the growth stage on the heavy metal tolerance of alfalfa plants

Abstract Alfalfa plants grown in soil at different growth stages were exposed to separate batches of Cr(VI) at 100 mg/l, and Cd(II), Cu(II), Ni(II), or Zn(II) at 500 mg/l. Four days after germination, all metals, except Zn(II), had lethal effects on the alfalfa seedlings. Furthermore, when applied 16 days after germination, Cr(VI) and Ni(II) still had lethal effects on the seedlings and Cd(II) and Cu(II) destroyed more than 50% of the plant population. While approximately 90% of the plants exposed to Cd(II), Cu(II) and Zn(II) were able to grow without apparent negative effects 20 days after germination, Cr(VI) and Ni(II) still showed lethal effects. The concentration of heavy metals in shoot dry tissues was 1209 mg/kg for Cd, 887 mg/kg for Cu and 645 mg/kg for Zn. These results demonstrated that the tolerance of alfalfa plants to Cd, Cu and Zn was positively correlated with the age of the plants. Also, these results opened the possibility of using alfalfa plants, via transplant, to clean up soils where the concentration of Cd, Cu or Zn is high enough to avoid alfalfa seed germination.

Utilization of ICP/OES for the determination of trace metal binding to different humic fractions

In this study, the use of inductively coupled plasma/optical emission spectrometry (ICP/OES) to determine multi-metal binding to three biomasses, Sphagnum peat moss, humin and humic acids is reported. All the investigations were performed under part per billion (ppb) concentrations. Batch pH profile experiments were performed using multi-metal solutions of Cd(II), Cu(II), Pb(II), Ni(II), Cr(III) and Cr(VI). The results showed that at pH 2 and 3, the metal affinity of the three biomasses exposed to the multi-metal solution that included Cr(III) presented the following order: Cu(II), Pb(II)>Ni(II)>Cr(III)>Cd(II). On the other hand, when Cr(VI) was in the heavy metal mixture, Sphagnum peat moss and humin showed the following affinity: Cu(II), Pb(II)>Ni(II)>Cr(VI)>Cd(II); however, the affinity of the humic acids was: Cu(II)>Pb(II), Cr(VI)>Ni(II)>Cd(II). The results demonstrated that pH values of 4 and 5 were the most favorable for the heavy metal binding process. At pH 5, all the metals, except for Cr(VI), were bound between 90 and 100% to the three biomasses. However, the binding capacity of humic acids decreased at pH 6 in the presence of Cr(VI). The results showed that the ICP/OES permits the determination of heavy metal binding to organic matter at ppb concentration. These results will be very useful in understanding the role of humic substances in the fate and transport of heavy metals, and thus could provide information to develop new methodologies for the removal of low concentrations of toxic heavy metals from contaminated waters.

Gold binding by native and chemically modified hops biomasses.

Heavy metals from mining, smelting operations and other industrial processing facilities pollute wastewaters worldwide. Extraction of metals from industrial effluents has been widely studied due to the economic advantages and the relative ease of technical implementation. Consequently, the search for new and improved methodologies for the recovery of gold has increased. In this particular research, the use of cone hops biomass (Humulus lupulus) was investigated as a new option for gold recovery. The results showed that the gold binding to native hops biomass was pH dependent from pH 2 to pH 6, with a maximum percentage binding at pH 3. Time dependency studies demonstrated that Au(III) binding to native and modified cone hops biomasses was found to be time independent at pH 2 while at pH 5, it was time dependent. Capacity experiments demonstrated that at pH 2, esterified hops biomass bound 33.4 mg Au/g of biomass, while native and hydrolyzed hops biomasses bound 28.2 and 12.0 mg Au/g of biomass, respectively. However, at pH 5 the binding capacities were 38.9, 37.8 and 11.4 mg of Au per gram of native, esterified and hydrolyzed hops biomasses, respectively.