Removal of some estrogenic pollutants from water by adsorption [articol]

Abstract

The present research reports the results on removal of some estrogenic compound such as estriol and di-ethylphthalate (DEP) from water by using Saccharomyces cerevisiae yeast immobilized on silica gel as biosorbent. Biosorption was investigated using batch experiments by considering the influence of initial concentration of estrogenic pollutants from 10 to 100 mg/L. Depending on the initial concentration of the pollutant in aqueous phases the adsorption capacity has varied from 45 to 85 %. The biosorption was mathematically described using Langmuir model and Freundlich equation, and the Langmuir model was found to be in better correlation with the experimental data. The determinate Langmuir parameters were: qmax =3.66 (mg/g), b = 0.336 (L/mg) for DEP and qmax =15.72 (mg/g), b = 0.0124 (L/mg) for estriol. The Freundlich constants were: k = 1.186 (L/g), n = 2.95 for DEP and k = 3.737 (L/g), n = 1.485 for estriol. The kinetics of biosorption of DEP and estriol by S. cerevisiae yeast using first- and pseudo second-order models has shown a better correlation of experimental data with pseudo second-order model.