Abatement of Cu (II) by dead biomass of Mucor rouxii

Dead biomass of Mucor rouxii has been used for the removal of copper (II) from an aqueous solution. The effects of different parameters such as contact time, adsorbate concentration, pH of the medium and temperature were examined. Optimum removal at 200C was found to be 98.6 % at pH 6.6, with an initial Cu (II) concentration of 100 mg L-1. Dynamics of the sorption process and mass transfer of Cu (II) to sorbent were investigated and the values of rate constant of adsorption, rate constant of intraparticle diffusion and the mass transfer coefficients were calculated. Different thermodynamic parameters viz., changes in standard free energy, enthalpy and entropy were evaluated and it was found that the reaction was spontaneous and exothermic in nature. The sorption data fitted the Langmuir isotherm. The data were subjected to multiple regression analysis and a model was developed to predict the removal of Cu (II) from an aqueous solution.