Abstract
This paper projects the potential of waste beer yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae in biosorbing lead from battery manufacturing industrial effluent. Experiments were carried out as a function of pH, biosorbent concentration, lead concentration and agitation speed. Specific lead uptake of 2.34 mg/g was recorded and the data gave good fits for Freundlich and Langmuir models with Kf and Qmax values of 0.5149 and 55.71 mg/g. The roles played by amines, carboxylic acids, phosphates, sulfhydryl group and lipids in lead biosorption were studied. Electrostatic attraction may be the mechanism of biosorption. The extent of contribution of the functional groups and lipids to lead biosorption was in the order: carboxylic acids > lipids > amines > phosphates. Blocking of sulfhydryl group did not have any significant effect on lead uptake.
Upon acceptance of an article by the journal, authors will be asked to transfer the copyright to Electronic Journal of Biotechnology, which is committed to maintain the electronic access to the journal and to administer a policy of fair control and ensure the widest possible dissemination of the information. The author can use the article for academic purposes, stating clearly the following: "Published in Electronic Journal of Biotechnology at DOI:10.2225/volXX-issueX-fulltext-XX".
The Copyright Transfer Agreement must be submitted as a signed scanned copy to biotec@ucv.cl. All authors must send a copy of this document.