Biosorption of Heavy Metal by Algae Biomass in Surface Water

Discharging wastewater containing heavy metals of Cu, Pb, Zn and Cd into water bodies can cause toxicity in plants and aquatic animals and some of them will be unable to survive except algae. Wastewater treatment method to remove heavy metal contaminants includes chemical precipitation, ion exchange, membrane, filtration, adsorption using activated carbon. However, these methods are either expensive or have other disadvantages such as high energy consumption and inefficiencies when existing heavy metals are at trace concentration. Biosorption using algae biomass can be an alternative method to eliminate heavy metals. The objective of the project is to investigate the capability of Marine Algae (MA) and Freshwater Algae (FA) bi-omass in adsorbing heavy metals of Cu, Pb, Zn and Cd from water medium using synthetic water and industrial water. MA and FA were obtained from the eastern coast of Pulau Ubin and local fish farm respectively. After being fully washed with deionised water, dried in a furnace for 105°C, they are grinded to pass 1 mm2 of siever. MA and FA were characterised using FTIR to determine their functional groups. An industrial water was collected from industrial discharge from metal fac-tories in northern side of Singapore. Effect of adsorption time, adsorbent concentra-tion, and pH were studied. The result showed that FA and MA had a higher capability in adsorbing a total metal of about 40 ppm level from an industrial water, or 4 times than synthetic water concentration, at the same adsorbent dosage of 50 mg. In con-clusion, the presence of various functional groups, hydroxyl, carboxylic and amine groups, in all MA and FA samples had enabled the algae biomass to adsorb heavy metals of Cu, Pb, Cd and Zn from synthetic and industrial water. Due to their bio-sorptive properties and fast adsorption capability, algae could be a potential method for cleaning up surface water or post-treatment of wastewater and minimise the cost of eutrophication.

Dynamic Diurnal Changes in Green Algae Biomass in the Southern Yellow Sea Based on GOCI Images

Macroalgae blooms of Ulva prolifera have occurred every summer in the southern Yellow Sea since 2007,inducing severe ecological problems and huge economic losses.Genesis and secular movement of green algae blooms have been well monitored by using remote sensing and other methods.In this study,green algae were detected and traced by using Geostationary Ocean Color Imager(GOCI),and a novel biomass estimation model was developed from the relationship between biomass measurements and previously published satellite-derived biomass indexes.The results show that the green algae biomass can be determined most accurately with the biomass index of green algae for GOCI(BIGAG),which is calculated from the Rsurf data that had been atmospherically corrected by ENVI/QUAC method.For the first time,dynamic changes in green algae biomass were studied over an hourly scale.Short-term biomass changes were highly influenced by Photosynthetically Available Radiation(PAR)and tidal phases,but less by sea surface temperature variations on a daily timescale.A new parameter of biomass changes(PBC),calculated by the ratio of the biomass growth rate to movement velocity,could provide an effective way to assess and forecast green tide in the southern Yellow Sea and similar areas.

Effect of goethite on anaerobic co-digestion process of corn straw and algae biomass

1 Introduction Recently the demand for fossil fuel has grown significantly with the rapid development of the Chinese economy.Renewable energy was developed to replace traditional fossil fuels,which would decrease the

Harnessing Microalgae Biomass from Lake Taihu as a Natural Biocolorant Source for Sustainable Eco-Friendly Dyeing of Cotton with Ultrasonication

Most water bodies worldwide are infested with algae bloom and Lake Taihu is no exception, various techniques have been developed to harvest microalgae from Lake Taihu as part of the lake cleaning program and this results in a large algae biomass to deal with. This study made use of the algae biomass harvested as a biocolorants source for textile application and also evaluated its dyeing characteristics with mercerized and bleached cotton. The fabrics were dyed with either ultrasound or water bath method. The ultrasound method improved dye extraction yield from 17.8% for the conventional method to 26.7%, which was also enhanced to 33.2% with the addition of HCl (1 cm). The ultrasound dyeing method was effective at improving dye uptake at a reduced dyeing temperature when compared to the conventional method and also produced different shades of color after dyeing with different mordants. The dyed fabrics had good fastness properties for laundry, crocking and light. The dyed fabrics also showed a good ultraviolet protection factor. The use of algae biomass as a potential source of colorants for textile application will provide an alternate dye source that is environmentally friendly.