Biosorption of cadmium by CO(2)-fixing microalga Scenedesmus obliquus CNW-N

An efficient CO(2)-fixing indigenous microalga Scenedesmus obliquus CNW-N was used as the biosorbent to remove cadmium from aqueous solution. The microalga was grown with continuous feeding of 2.5% CO(2), achieving a maximum CO(2) consumption rate of 495 mg/l/d and a biomass production of 2.56 g/l. Cadmium (Cd) biosorption by S. obliquus CNW-N was optimal at pH 6.0 and 30 °C. For an initial cadmium concentration of 50mg/l, the biosorption capacity tended to decrease with an increase in biosorbent, while the cadmium removal efficiency was nearly 100% when the biosorbent loading was higher than 0.6g. The biosorption kinetics followed the pseudo-second order adsorption model. The adsorption equilibrium obeys Langmuir isotherm with an estimated maximum capacity of 68.6 mg/g and a saturation coefficient of 0.101 l/mg. The cadmium-loaded microalgal biomass could be regenerated preferably with 0.05 M CaCl(2), as the regenerated biosorbent retained good adsorption capability after five consecutive adsorption/desorption cycles.