Eco-Friendly Copper Recovery: Insights to Algal and Agricultural Waste Application
Nelli Abrahamyan1, Arevik Vardanyan1, Sona Barseghyan1
1Institute of Microbiology of SPC "Armbiotechnology" NAS of Armenia, Yerevan, Armenia.
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Copper release from mining and electronic waste poses an environmental challenge, requiring sustainable recovery technologies. This study investigated a biohydrometallurgical approach combining bioleaching and biosorption. Copper was mobilized from waste printed circuit boards (PCBs) using the iron-oxidizing bacterium Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans, generating a copper-rich pregnant leach solution (PLS). Low-cost biosorbents, including agricultural wastes, spent coffee grounds, and algal biomass, were evaluated in batch experiments for Cu2+ removal from aqueous solutions. Among the tested materials, Fucus vesiculosus exhibited the highest adsorption performance, achieving 80.3% Cu2+ removal from synthetic solutions and 89.6% from diluted real pregnant leach solution at pH 6. Kinetic analysis showed that copper biosorption followed pseudo-first- and pseudo-second-order models, indicating physical adsorption and chemisorption. Desorption with EDTA achieved the highest efficiency (94.9%) while preserving biosorbent stability. These findings highlight F. vesiculosus as an eco-friendly, reusable biosorbent and support coupling bioleaching with biosorption for sustainable copper recovery from diverse electronic waste streams.
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