Removal of divalent heavy metal mixtures from water by Saccharomyces cerevisiae using crossflow microfiltration

The removal of heavy metal ions, Ni2+, Cu2+ and Pb2+ using yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) as carriers in a crossflow microfiltration is investigated. The effects of yeast cell and electrolyte concentrations on the transient and steady-state permeate flux and metal ion rejections are established. It is found that the metal ion rejection reaches a plateau if yeast cell concentration is greater than approximately 2 g/l as a result of cell aggregation. The binding affinity of the metals to yeast cell is Pb2+ > Cu2+ > Ni2+, which is also reflected in the metal ion rejection under identical process conditions. Because of the formation of yeast cell flocks in the presence of Pb2+, permeate flux is also higher for this metal. The presence of NaCl decreases both rejection and permeate flux for Ni2+ and Cu2+ but not for Pb2+. When binary or ternary metal mixtures are used, the rejection of the individual metals is reduced except that of Pb2+. It is found that the pseudo-gel concentration is unaffected by the presence of metal ions.