13.6 Industrial Application on the Biosorption of Heavy Metals

197

packed bed reactor. The performance of the packed bed reactor was analyzed by

varying flow rate, inlet concentration, and depth of packed material in the range of

5–15 ml/min, 50–250 mg/l, and 4.9–22.8 cm, respectively. Eventually, they observed

that time taken for the breakthrough point and the adsorption rate is decreased by

increasing flow rate, inlet chromium concentration, and depth of sorbent packing.

In the case of chromium biosorption by the fluidized bed reactor, the efficacy of the

process was analyzed at the initial concentration of 100 ppm, flow rate of 5 ml/min,

and fluidized air flow rate of 0.5 kg/cm². The maximum adsorption capacity by

biomass in packed and fluidized bed reactor was found to be 123.33 and 153.04 mg

of Cr/g of biomass, respectively.

13.6.2

Biosorption of Heavy Metals by Using Packed Bed Reactors

Ibrahim et al. [32] examined the removal of heavy metals using a fixed bed bioreactor

packed with supporting material. In this research work, the biosorption process was

carried out for several divalent metal ions such as Cu²⁺, Cd²⁺, Mn²⁺, Co²⁺, Ni²⁺,

Pb²⁺, and trivalent Fe³⁺ using P. aeruginosa and the luffa pulp as packing material.

Figure 13.3 shows the schematic representation of a fixed bed reactor. To overcome

the contamination effect, sterile air was collected through the two air filters which

will pass through the glass nozzle at the bottom of the column (4) with a fixed flow

rate of 1 l/min. The column was packed with 8 g of supporting material (luffa pulp

pieces), and the biomass was adsorbed onto the surface material. In this design, two

heads are connected by the peristaltic pump at the top and bottom for pumping the

wastewater into the reactor and discharge the effluent without heavy metals.

5

5

4

1

6

3

2

Figure 13.3

Schematic diagram of a fixed bed reactor supported with luffa pulp in a glass

column [31]. (1) Hot plate with a magnetic stirrer, (2) peristaltic pump, (3) air pump, (4) two

air filters, (5) heavy metal contaminated sample, and (6) flexible hoses for connections.

Source: Ibrahim et al. [32].