Chemical equilibria in bio sorption

An experimental study of bio sorption was carried out using six different kinds of algae and five different heavy metals (cadmium, copper, nickel, lead and zinc). Experimental data fitted very well to langmuir's model and this allowed to predict the behaviour of the biomass under specific working conditions. Using the equations of the model under different initial assumptions, a series of mathematical calculations were done for mono metallic, bimetallic and tri metallic systems. the most complicated calculation is that in which, knowing the initial metal concentration (C0), it is necessary to calculate the conditions reached at the equilibrium, this is, qe and Ce. This assumption is of great interest from the point of view of the actual applicability of the process. However, in this case, it is necessary to solve very complex mathematical equations which, for multi metallic systems, are of degree n+1, where n is the number of ions present in solution. The excellent correlation between experimental and theoretical data demonstrates that the bio sorption process can be modelling. (Author) 18 refs