Biosorption of Hexavalent Chromium by Freshwater Microalgae Craticula subminuscula from Aqueous Solutions

Karim Sbihi, Sara Elhamji, Siham Lghoul, Khalid Aziz, Abdelali El Maallem, Jamal Mabrouki, Mostafa El-Sheekh and Faissal Aziz ()
Additional contact information
Karim Sbihi: Laboratory Analysis, Modelling, Engineering, Natural Substances and Environment, Natural Substances, Health and Environment Team, Polydisciplinaire Faculty of Taroudant, Ibn Zohr University, Agadir 80000, Morocco
Sara Elhamji: National Centre for Research and Study on Water and Energy (CNEREE), Cadi Ayyad University, Marrakech 40000, Morocco
Siham Lghoul: Department of Biology, Faculty of Sciences Semlalia, Cadi Ayyad University, Marrakesh 40000, Morocco
Khalid Aziz: Materials Science and Nano-Engineering (MSN) Department, VI Mohammed Polytechnic University (UM6P), Lot 660—Hay Moulay Rachid, Benguerir 43150, Morocco
Abdelali El Maallem: Laboratory Analysis, Modelling, Engineering, Natural Substances and Environment, Natural Substances, Health and Environment Team, Polydisciplinaire Faculty of Taroudant, Ibn Zohr University, Agadir 80000, Morocco
Jamal Mabrouki: Laboratory of Spectroscopy, Molecular Modelling, Materials, Nanomaterial, Water and Environment, CERNE2D, Faculty of Science, Mohammed V University, Av. Ibn Battouta, B.P. 1014, Agdal, Rabat 10140, Morocco
Mostafa El-Sheekh: Botany Department, Faculty of Science, Tanta University, Tanta 31527, Egypt
Faissal Aziz: National Centre for Research and Study on Water and Energy (CNEREE), Cadi Ayyad University, Marrakech 40000, Morocco

Sustainability, 2024, vol. 16, issue 2, 1-26

Abstract: Recently, microalgae have tended to be used as a biological treatment for wastewater decontamination. The present study aimed to investigate the Cr(VI) removal using the freshwater microalgae ‘ Craticula subminuscula ’ and their biobased adsorbant, isolated from a Moroccan river in the High Atlas Mountain. The optimum operational conditions for maximum Cr(VI) biosorption by the biobased adsorbent form (95.32%) were determined at (pH = 1.09, adsorbent dose = 10.91 mg L −1 , and treatment duration = 129.47 min) using response surface methodology (RSM). Under those optimal conditions, the biosorption process of Cr(VI) by C. subminuscula is endothermic, spontaneous and follows Langmuir and a pseudo-second-order model with a constant rate; the theoretical and experimental biosorption capacity of 0.0004 g/mg/min was 289.01 mg g −1 and 277.57 mg g −1 , respectively. Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) analyses of the biomass and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) revealed that the principal mechanism to remove Cr(VI) by C. subminuscula was the affinity of Cr(VI) by the cell walls of microalgae. Thus, the positive results of desorption cycles promise increased potential utilization of these algae in continuous systems within industrial processes. The findings contribute valuable insights into the effectiveness of C. subminuscula as a biobased remediation agent for Cr(VI) in wastewater treatment.

Keywords: Craticula subminuscula; Cr(VI); biosorption; optimization; removal kinetics (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/2/918/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/2/918/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:16:y:2024:i:2:p:918-:d:1323673

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().