Biosorption of copper from waste waters: A review

G. McKay*, Y. S. Ho, J. C.Y. Ng

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

306 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

A comprehensive literature review has been carried out on the sorption of copper ions onto various biosorbents. Extensive research has been carried out using peat as a sorbent and the sorption capacity of copper on different peats varies by a factor of over fifty. Furthermore, this paper identifies that copper sorption capacities have been reported for over thirty other different biosorbents. The paper reviews the capacities of the various biosorbents for copper and discusses the range of kinetic mechanisms used by different researches to correlate kinetic experimental data. The suitability of the various kinetic models for the sorption of copper from wastewaters onto different biosorbents is discussed. The review identifies several deficiencies in the literature. Many of the studies on equilibrium isotherms only apply one method of analysis. Researchers fail to test experimental equilibrium date using several models and do not determine the best tit model by error analysis or by postulating a sorption mechanism. The same criticism is valid for kinetic studies. The application of more than one kinetic model is extremely rare. Another major problem arises in the characterisation of adsorbent materials, since very little information is provided on surface area, pore size distribution, surface activity, particle size, hardness or attrition rates and influence of pH. These are key factors in developing and designing wastewater treatment systems.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)87-125
Number of pages39
JournalSeparation and Purification Methods
Volume28
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1999
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Biosorbents
  • Copper
  • Peat
  • Sorption

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Biosorption of copper from waste waters: A review'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this