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Bioresource Technology 99 (2008) 5595–5601

Biosorption of heavy metals from aqueous solutions with tobacco dust

B.C. Qi, C. Aldrich *

Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Stellenbosch, Stellenbosch, Private Bag X1, Matieland 7602, South Africa

Received 21 November 2006; received in revised form 19 October 2007; accepted 24 October 2007
Available online 21 December 2007

Abstract

A typical lignocellulosic agricultural residue, namely tobacco dust, was investigated for its heavy metal binding efficiency. The tobacco
dust exhibited a strong capacity for heavy metals, such as Pb(II), Cu(II), Cd(II), Zn(II) and Ni(II), with respective equilibrium loadings
of 39.6, 36.0, 29.6, 25.1 and 24.5 mg of metal per g of sorbent. Moreover, the heavy metals loaded onto the biosorbent could be released
easily with a dilute HCl solution. Zeta potential and surface acidity measurements showed that the tobacco dust was negatively charged
over a wide pH range (pH > 2), with a strong surface acidity and a high OH adsorption capacity. Changes in the surface morphology of
the tobacco dust as visualized by atomic force microscopy suggested that the sorption of heavy metal ions on the tobacco could be asso-
ciated with changes in the surface properties of the dust particles. These surface changes appeared to have resulted from a loss of some of
the structures on the surface of the particles, owing to leaching in the acid metal ion solution. However, Fourier transform infrared spec-
troscopy (FTIR) showed no substantial change in the chemical structure of the tobacco dust subjected to biosorption. The heavy metal
uptake by the tobacco dust may be interpreted as metal–H ion exchange or metal ion surface complexation adsorption or both.
 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Biosorption; Heavy metals; Lignocellulose; Tobacco

1. Introduction successive treatment cycles. Moreover, the end product is

The increased attention on the harmful effects of heavy
metal ions on human health and the environment over
the past few decades has led to a concomitant focus on
improved water quality. Since industrial effluents in partic-
ular are a major contributor to heavy metal contamination,
the removal of such metals from these effluents has been a
priority in the tightening and enforcement of environmen-
tal regulations. Removal of these contaminants can be
accomplished by use of physical or chemical methods,
including the use of chemical reagents, ion exchange, acti-
vated carbon sorption and membrane technology. Most of
these approaches have significant disadvantages. For
example, chemical reagents are costly (Kadiverlu et al.,
2001), as the active agents cannot be recovered for use in
*
Corresponding author. Tel.: +27 21 808 4485; fax: +27 21 808 2059.
E-mail address: CA1@sun.ac.za (C. Aldrich).
usually a low volume, highly concentrated metalliferous
sludge that may be difficult to dewater and dispose of (San-
dau et al., 1996). Likewise, ion exchange and membrane
systems could be expensive, especially in small-scale pro-
cesses, with the resins or membranes prone to fouling or
oxidation. Similarly, activated carbon, the most widely
used adsorbent in the treatment of waste water, is expen-
sive and may also require complexing agents to improve
its ability to remove inorganic matter (Babel and Kurnia-
wan, 2002).
Biosorption, which is the ability of certain biomaterials
to bind and concentrate heavy metals from even the most
dilute aqueous solutions, offers a technically feasible and
economically attractive alternative to the conventional
technologies for removal of heavy metal from the contam-
inated effluents (Davis et al., 2000; De Carvalho et al.,
2001; Esposito et al., 2001; Demir and Arisoy, 2007).
Various biomaterials produced or harvested from natural
resources or agricultural products, mostly in metabolically

0960-8524/$ - see front matter  2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.biortech.2007.10.042
5596 B.C. Qi, C. Aldrich / Bioresource Technology 99 (2008) 5595–5601
inactive states, have been used in disposal of heavy metal
effluents by biosorption. These include microorganisms,
such as bacteria, fungi, yeast and algae and lignocellulose
biomaterials, such as peat moss, raw rice bran, rice straw,
coconut husks, waste coffee powder, dried plant leaves,
etc. (Oliveira et al., 2005; Orhan and Buyukgungor, 1993;
Zouboulis et al., 1999; Feng and Aldrich, 2004). Among
these biomaterials, marine algae and peat moss have been
studied extensively to sequester heavy metals from contam-
inated effluents (Zümriye, 1997; Brown et al., 2000).
However, among others, owing to the heterogeneous com-
position and complex chemical structures of various bioma-
terials, as well as a wide spectrum of heavy metals, standard
criteria through which biosorption can be industrialized are
still lacking at present. For lignocellulosic biomaterial (e.g.,
peat moss and black liquor), it is especially the lignin and
humic acids that are involved in the chemical bonding of
heavy metals during biosorption (Brown et al., 2000; Babel
and Kurniawan, 2002).
Furthermore, besides a strong metallic affinity, the
search for a low-cost and easily available adsorbent has
led to the investigation of materials of agricultural origin
as potential metal adsorbents (Pagnanelli et al., 2001; Sheth
and Soni, 2004). These low cost materials have not been
studied as extensively as other biosorbents, owing to their
local, rather than global availability (Babel and Kurnia-
wan, 2002) and therefore, in this investigation, the biosorp-
tion capacity of a typical lignocellulosic plant biomass and
a waste product from the tobacco industry, namely tobacco
dust, is considered.
2. Experimental work
2.1. Materials
The heavy metal ions tested in this study included
Pb(II), Cu(II), Cd(II), Zn(II) and Ni(II). The metal ion
solutions were made up of atomic absorption standard
metal solution (Merck, 1000 mg/L) by diluting with dis-
tilled water to the required concentrations. Analytical
grades of HCl and NaOH (Merck) solutions were used
for pH adjustment. The air-dried tobacco dust was
obtained in ground form from the British American
Tobacco Company in Paarl, South Africa, with a particle
size of 1–2 mm.
2.2. Methodology
The tobacco dust was protonated with 0.1 M HCl at 1:5
(w/v) for 1 h, followed by washing with distilled water until
the pH of the suspensions reached 4.5–5.0, and dried at
105 C. The tobacco dust had the following mass-based
composition: 30% lignin, 94.2% total solids, 72.0% volatile
solids, 28.0% ash, 43.0% carbon and 2.37% nitrogen, 1.70%
potassium, 4.29% calcium and 0.70% magnesium. It also
contained 26, 57, 0.57, 761 and 288 mg/kg of B, Cu, Fe,
Zn and Na, respectively.
Batch equilibrium sorption was performed in 1 L screw
capped plastic bottles on a roller at a speed of 58–60 rpm at
ambient temperatures (23–25 C) for 24 h. The pH values
of the final suspensions were measured at equilibrium sorp-
tion conditions. The suspension was then filtrated and the
individual metal ion concentrations of the filtrate were ana-
lyzed as the equilibrium concentrations of each metal ion
species. Metal ion loadings on the biosorbent were deter-
mined from the difference of metal ion concentrations in
the initial and final suspensions. The capacity of the biosor-
bent for the single species sorption system was estimated
from the equilibrium metal ion loading values, which
showed no obvious change with an increase in the metal
ion loading. However, for the multi-species sorption sys-
tem, the equilibrium metal ion loading values were not
observed over the concentration ranges of the multiple
metal ions under the investigation. Thus no sorption capac-
ity values could be obtained for the multi-species sorption
system. For both sorption systems, the biosorbent load was
1.0 g/L metal solution.
Batch kinetic tests were performed at 25 C using an
overhead stirrer with a baffle attachment at stirring speeds
of 800–1000 rpm. The biosorbent load was 1.0 g/L metal
solution.
Desorption experiments were carried out under the same
conditions as the batch sorption experiments, except that
both the biosorbent and heavy metal ion loadings were
doubled in the sorption stage. After 24 h of contacting,
reaction suspensions were filtrated and the filtrated cakes
were washed three times using the same volumes of distilled
water as the sorption suspensions. This was done in order
to remove the physically attached metal ions from the
loaded tobacco dust. The washed solids were oven dried
overnight at 105 C for subsequent desorption tests.
Desorption tests were carried out by magnetically suspen-
ding the loaded biosorbents in a series of HCl solutions
at varied concentrations (the suspension contained 1%
weight of the metal loaded biosorbent). After the required
contact time, the reaction mixture was filtrated and the
metal ion content of the filtrate was analyzed. Desorption
efficiency was calculated as a percentage of the amount of
the released metal ions relating to the total amount of
metal ions which were previously adsorbed on the
biosorbent.
The metal ion content in the solution was measured
using an atomic absorption spectrophotometer (AA 250
plus) and ICP spectrometry (Varian Liberty Series II
Sequential ICP AES).
The morphological microstructures of the tobacco dust
were examined by atomic force microscopy (AFM) using
a TMX 2000 Explorer (Topometrix, American, force con-
stant of probe, 35–65 N/m). The surface roughness was
estimated from the AFM images and calculated with the
AFM surface analysis software (SPMLab V3.0 6.0).
The surface acidity of the biosorbent was investigated
using alkalimetric titration (Huang, 1981). To prepare the
samples for titration, 140 mL of biosorbent suspension
 B.C. Qi, C. Aldrich / Bioresource Technology 99 (2008) 5595–5601
(1.0 g/L) was transferred into each of four beakers. Two
were directly titrated, one with acid (0.1 N HClO4) and
the other with base (0.1 N NaOH) (sample titration). The
other two were titrated after removing the biosorbent solid
by passing through a 0.45 lm filter (blank titration). The
initial pH value was measured, followed by titration of
the solutions under continuous mixing using 0.1 N HClO4
to pH 3.0 or 0.1 N NaOH to pH 11.0. The volumes of the
acid or base added and the corresponding equilibrium pH
values were recorded. The pH values were taken every
30 min after each addition of acid or base. Pure N2 gas
was continuously purged to exclude CO2 during titration.
The change of pH after each acid or base addition was
ensured not to exceed 0.3 units.
The surface charging characteristics of the biosorbent
were examined by zeta potential measurements (Malvern
Zetasizer 4) on a multi-species sorption system. Under
the same pH conditions, the biosorbent suspensions in
the absence of heavy metals were used as the blank
samples.
Changes in the surface structures of the tobacco dust
subjected to metal sorption and desorption were examined
using FTIR spectra. The KBr pellets were prepared with a
mixture of 1.0 mg oven-dried tobacco dust with 300.0 mg
KBr (both were dried at 105 C for 48 h). The FTIR spec-
tra of the pellets were recorded on a Perkin Elmer 1600 Ser-
ies FTIR spectrometer.
3. Results and discussion
3.1. Kinetic experiments
The changes in solution pH and heavy metal removal
efficiency in a multi-species sorption system with sorption
time are shown in Fig. 1. The pH of the sorption system
decreased steadily during the first 370 min, then stabilized
throughout the sorption process. This implies that the
metal binding to the biosorbent was associated with H+–
metal ion exchange. Almost all the heavy metals achieved
100
90
80
Ion removal (%)
70
60
50
40
30 Cd Cu
Ni Pb
20 Zn
10
0 1
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18
Contact time (hour)
Fig. 1. Heavy metal adsorption kinetics of the tobacco dust (pH = 6.34).
5597
their sorption equilibria within approximately 90 min at
an equilibrium pH of 6.34. Dynamic biosorption selectivity
of the tobacco dust for heavy metals was approximately in
the order: Zn(II) ffi Cu(II) > Cd(II) > Pb(II) > Ni(II).
3.2. Equilibrium experiments
Equilibrium experiments were performed for both sin-
gle-ion sorption systems and multi-species sorption sys-
tems. The solution pH was presumed to be an important
factor influencing the heavy metal distributions in the
liquid phase, as well as the interactions between the metal
ions and the biosorbent. Fig. 2 indicates that the influence
of the pH on the biosorption of the heavy metals generally
followed the expected metal sorption behaviour, with the
removal efficiency increasing with an increase in the pH
of the solution, but decreasing under high equilibrium
pH (pH > 9) conditions.
Sorption started at a pH of 4–5 and began to decline at a
pH of 9–10 for most of the heavy metal ions. This suggests
that sorption from dilute hydrolysable metal ion solutions
(such as that of a heavy metal) usually occurs at a pH
below the region where hydrolysis occurs. This is where
sorption may be driven either by ion exchange or surface
complexation, in which metal ions replace surface protons,
or as the preferential sorption of the hydrolyzed species
(James, 1981). FTIR analysis has suggested the presence
of aromatic structures, nonaromatic double bonds, H-
bonded C@O of conjugated ketones and quinines and sym-
metric COO- groups (Sparks, 1999) in the tobacco dust
biomass. At a pH of 4–5, the ionic state of ligands of func-
tional groups, such as carboxyl, phosphate and amino-
groups, which are mostly the chemical structures of the sur-
face cell walls of the tobacco dust, would promote a reac-
tion with metal ions. This reaction would occur through
electrostatic attraction between positively charged metal
cations and negatively charged binding sites on the tobacco
dust (detailed surface charge conditions will be discussed
later). This would result in a rapid rise in the metal removal
100
90
80
Ion removal (%)
70
60
50
40
30
Cd Cu
20 Ni Pb
10 Zn
0
2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
20 22 24 pH
Fig. 2. Changes in heavy metal removal efficiency of the tobacco dust with
equilibrium solution pH for single-species sorption.
5598 B.C. Qi, C. Aldrich / Bioresource Technology 99 (2008) 5595–5601
efficiency at a pH of 4–5. As the pH is lowered, the mea-
sured surface charge on the tobacco would become more
positive, leading to a weakening of the electrostatic interac-
tion of metal ions with the tobacco dust.
Both the single and multiple species sorption isotherms of
the tobacco dust are presented in Fig. 3. The sorption capac-
ities for Pb(II), Cu(II), Cd(II), Zn(II) and Ni(II) of the
tobacco dust were approximately 39.6, 36.0, 29.6, 25.1 and
24.5 mg/g sorbent, respectively, in a single species sorption
system. In contrast, under the same equilibrium metal con-
centrations, the heavy metal sorption isotherms in multi-
species sorption system were different from those in a single
species sorption system. The selectivity of the metal binding
capacities of the tobacco dust also differed in the single and
multiple species systems. In a multi-species sorption system
it was in the order of Cu(II) > Pb(II) > Zn(II) > Cd(II) >
Ni(II), while in the single species sorption system it was in
the order of Pb(II) > Cu(II) > Cd(II) > Ni(II) ffi Zn(II).
In general, three types of interactive sorption behaviour
could be displayed by a mixture of heavy metals, viz. syn-
ergism, antagonism or non-interaction. With synergism,
the effect of the mixture is greater than the sum of each
of the individual effects of the constituents in the mixture.
With antagonism, the effect of the mixture is less than that
of the sum of the individual effects of the constituents in the
mixture. With non-interaction, the effect of the mixture is
equivalent to the sum of each of the individual effects of
the constituents in the mixture (Zümriye, 1997).
The sorption competition among these heavy metal ions,
especially among Cu(II), Cd(II) and Ni(II), was evident
from comparison of the metal uptake in the single and mul-
tiple species systems. Under the same initial metal concen-
trations, the metal loading of Cu(II) was generally higher in
the multi-species sorption system than in the single species
sorption system. Conversely, the metal loadings of Cd(II)
and Ni(II) were generally lower in the multi-species sorp-
tion system than in the single species sorption system. On
40
36
32
Metal loading (mg/g)
28
24
20
16
12
8 6
Cd
Ni
4 Zn
Zn
0 0
0 2 4 6 8 10
Equilibrium concentration of heavy metals (mg/l)
Fig. 3. Heavy metal sorption isotherms of the tobacco dust at pH 6.5–7.2 (left: single-species sorption, right: multi-species sorption).
the whole, the metal loadings of Pb(II) and Zn(II) appeared
similar in both multi-species and single species sorption
systems. Therefore, synergism (for Cu(II)), antagonism
(for Cd(II) and Ni(II)) and non-interaction (for Pb(II)
and Zn(II)) were present simultaneously in the multi-spe-
cies sorption system, depending on the species of heavy
metals. When the combined effects of more than one metal
ion on the same biomass were found to be antagonistic,
such as the interactions between Cd(II) and Cu(II) or Ni(ii)
and Cu(II), it can be postulated that the effective number of
binding sites available for the uptake of a single metal spe-
cies was reduced, depending on the sorption equilibria of
the other cations. The extent of this reduction for the indi-
vidual species is possibly related to the electro-negativities
of the cations. In contrast, screening or competition for
the binding sites on the biomass surface could result in
the metal ions mutually improving their individual affinity
for the biomass, leading to a synergistic effect. A thermo-
dynamic model could be developed by extracting the active
metal ion absorption sites on the surfaces of the tobacco
dust to prove this postulation. However, such a develop-
ment falls beyond the scope of this paper.
3.3. Desorption experiments
Desorption of heavy metal ions from the loaded tobacco
dust with different concentrations of HCl solutions
(desorption time 6 h) is shown in Fig. 4. The changes of
desorption efficiency with time is given in Fig. 5, for a
0.09 mol/L HCl solution.
Fig. 4 shows that except for the Pb(II), almost all of
the heavy metals adsorbed on the tobacco dust could
be desorbed easily by a dilute HCl solution (less than
0.01 mol/L). The desorption efficiency was in the order:
Ni(II) > Zn(II) > Cd(II) > Cu(II) > Pb(II). This confirmed
that the tobacco dust had higher binding capacities for
Pb(II) and Cu(II) than for Ni(II) in particular, which could
30
28
26
24
22
20
18
16
14
12
10
Cd
8
Cu
Ni
Cu
Pb 4 Pb
2
12 14 16 18 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Equilibrium concentrations of heavy metals (mg/l)
 B.C. Qi, C. Aldrich / Bioresource Technology 99 (2008) 5595–5601 5599

100 3.5. Surface acidity of tobacco

90
Desorption effitiency (%)

80 Surface acidity is an important property of hydrous sol-

70 ids which are closely related to the mode and extent of
60 interfacial reactions such as adsorption and coagulation.
50 As mentioned previously, surface adsorption was consid-
40 ered to be an important mechanism by which heavy metal
30 Pb Zn Cd
ions may be bound to the tobacco dust.
20
Cu Ni As a typical natural lignocellulosic biomass, tobacco
10 dust is a complex material with lignin, cellulose and hemi-
0 cellulose as its major constituents. These constituents gen-
0 0.02 0.04 0.06 0.08 0.1 0.12 0.14 0.16 0.18 0.2 erally have polar functional groups, such as alcohols,
HCl concentration (mol/l) carboxylic acids and phenolic hydroxides. The hetero-
geneous functional groups on the surface structure of the
Fig. 4. Desorption of heavy metal ions from the tobacco dust with
different concentrations of HCl solution. tobacco dust make it difficult to distinguish, by conven-
tional analytical means, between dissociation of protons
from the surface and adsorption of OH ions onto the sur-
100 face. However, simply recording the pH values during the
course of titration of a suspension is sufficient to interpret
Desorption efficiency (%)

the surface sorption property of the biomass in terms of

Pb Zn Cd
Cu Ni
90
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24
Time (hour)
Fig. 5. Desorption of heavy metal ions from the tobacco dust with
0.09 mol/L HCl solution.
even be desorbed partially by distilled water (data not
shown).
Fig. 5 shows that desorption of heavy metals with HCl
solutions (pH < 2) from the tobacco dust is a rapid process,
which can be accomplished in less than 60 min. This sug-
gests that H+ has a higher competitive capacity than the
heavy metal ions under low pH condition (pH < 2).
3.4. Surface morphology changes of the tobacco dust owing
to biosorption and desorption
Atomic force microscopic images have shown that the
surfaces of the tobacco dust changed from fine homoge-
neous particulate textures to structures dominated by
bump-like aggregates, with some areas being significantly
smoother than others, following the sorption of heavy met-
als and the desorption of hydrochloric acid. The presence
of smooth surface areas and channel-like configurations
indicated that certain components of the tobacco dust
could be leached off the surface by the HCl or heavy metal
solutions. This also suggests that the sorption of heavy
metal ions on the tobacco dust could be associated with
changes in the local surface properties owing to the loss
of some of the structural components of the tobacco dust.
adsorption of hydrogen or hydroxide ions or their com-
plexes (Huang, 1981).
Titration analysis has shown that the pH of the suspen-
sion (supernatant) decreased or increased sharply corre-
sponding to the acid or base added, since the free H+ or
OH ions released from the biomass surface were initially
neutralized by the added base or acid. In contrast, the
pH plateau on the titration curves resulting from further
addition of base or acid, represents a surface adsorption
or complexation of H+ and or OH with the soluble
organic components of the tobacco dust, which were previ-
ously leached into the solution.
Operationally, the amount of adsorption is related to
the number of appropriate ions that cannot be accounted
for in a mass balance between the titration curve of sus-
pension and that of the supernatant. Ions not in solution
have to be on the surface of the biomass, so that a
decreased rate of increase in the pH of the suspension
compared to that of supernatant with the same dosage
of the base indicates the adsorption or complexation
(neutralization) of OH on the solid surface of the
tobacco dust, possibly accompanied by proton release.
Conversely, an increased rate of increase in the pH of
the suspension compared to that of the supernatant with
the same dosage of the acid indicates the adsorption or
complexation of H+ on the solid surface of the tobacco
dust. This also confirms the amphoteric property of the
tobacco dust, which can adsorb both OH and H+.
The dosage of base or acid that cannot be accounted
for by the change of the pH of the supernatant, suggests
the complexation of H+ and or OH with the organic
compounds in the supernatant, confirming the leachabil-
ity of the organic component of the tobacco dust.
In addition, titration analysis has shown that a larger
amount of base was needed for the suspension than for
the supernatant to reach an equilibrium pH value of 11.
This indicated that the solid surface of the tobacco dust
5600 B.C. Qi, C. Aldrich / Bioresource Technology 99 (2008) 5595–5601
possessed a strong OH adsorption or complexation
capacity, i.e., the tobacco dust surface is a highly proton-
ated surface with a high proton releasing potential. There-
fore, in terms of surface acidity, the tobacco dust could be
interpreted as S–H (‘‘S’’ stands for the solid surface of the
tobacco dust, while ‘‘H’’ stands for functional groups of
the protonated surface of the tobacco dust). The high sur-
face acidity of the tobacco dust explains its high heavy
metal binding capacity by proton replacement.
3.6. Electrokinetic properties of the tobacco dust
Polar functional groups, such as alcohols, carboxylic
acids and phenolic hydroxides may contribute to the occur-
rence of charged sites on the surfaces of biomass (Matis
et al., 1996). This partially accounts for the ability of the
biomaterial to retain cations in non-leachable forms by
coulombic and electrostatic forces or partly covalent bond-
ing forces for some polyvalent cations. The surface charge
(zeta potential) of the biomaterial plays an important role
in electrostatic adsorption on the biomaterial. The zeta
potentials of the tobacco dust under different pH and metal
ion concentrations are shown in Fig. 6.
Fig. 6 shows that the tobacco dust was negatively
charged over a wide pH range (pH > 2), indicating the
affinity of tobacco dust for positively charged heavy metal
ions. The negative charge of the tobacco dust increased
with an increase in the pH of the solution, despite increases
in the heavy metal ion concentrations. This suggests that
deprotonation or ionization of acidic functional groups
of the tobacco dust (or both) prevailed under higher pH
conditions, despite the increase in cationic strength, owing
to the increased concentrations of heavy metal ions.
From the surface acidity and electrokinetic property
measurements, it can be presumed that the mechanism of
biosorption of the heavy metals onto the tobacco dust is
principally governed by metal-proton ion exchange and
electrostatic attraction under general sorption pH condi-
tions (pH 4–7). Under higher pH conditions, hydroxide
precipitate adsorption could also take place, beside
metal–proton ion exchange and electrostatic attractions.
-35
M = 0 mg/l
M = 10 mg/l
-30
Zeta potential (mV)
M = 25 mg/l
M = 50 mg/l
-25
M = 100 mg/l
-20
-15
-10
-5
0 from waste water: cost and benefit analysis. Journal of Hazardous
2 3 4 5 6 8 7 9
pH
Fig. 6. Variation of zeta-potential of the suspension of tobacco dust with
the pH of the solution under different heavy metal concentrations (M).
4. Conclusions
In this investigation, the heavy metal binding efficiency
of tobacco dust was considered and the following conclu-
sions can be made.
• The tobacco dust exhibited a strong capacity for the
heavy metals considered in the study, viz. Pb(II), Cu(II),
Cd(II), Zn(II) and Ni(II), with respective equilibrium
loadings of 39.6, 36.0, 29.6, 25.1 and 24.5 mg of metal
per g of sorbent.
• Titration and zeta potential measurements both sug-
gested that the heavy metal sorption by the tobacco dust
was governed mainly by metal–H ion exchange or sur-
face metal complexation adsorption or both. However,
this could not be confirmed with FTIR spectral analysis
of the tobacco dust after heavy metal sorption and
desorption.
• The tobacco dust had a strong surface acidity, with a
high OH adsorption (neutralization) capacity. It could
be characterized as an amphoteric biosorbent, which
could form complexes with both H+ and OH ions.
• The surface of the tobacco dust was strongly negatively
charged over a wide pH range (pH > 2). The sorption of
heavy metals on the biomass surface and the increase in
ionic strength by increasing the heavy metal concentra-
tions in the sorption solution had little effect on the sur-
face charge and properties of the tobacco dust,
suggesting that electrostatic attraction was also one of
the sorption mechanisms.
Acknowledgements
The authors appreciate the financial support of the
Water Research Commission of South Africa and helpful
suggestions from the Project Steering Committee during
this investigation.
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