Biomass waste material as potential adsorbent for sequestering pollutants

Abstract

Conventional treatment technologies for the removal pollutants from the environment usually aren’t economically viable or may further generate huge quantity of toxic chemical sludge which requires further treatment. Biosorption is emerging as a potential alternative technique to the existing conventional technologies; its application is economically acceptable because it reuse biological materials with their major advantages: low cost, high efficiency, renewability, minimization of chemical or biological sludge, easy regeneration of biosorbents and possibility of metal recovery. The paper presents the review of the results of the biosorption efficiency of two biosorbents: peach shell, originating from 'Vino Župa' Company from Aleksandrovac, as agro-industrial waste and urban waste, aquatic plant, Myriophyllum spicatum, harvested from artificial Sava Lake, Belgrade, as low cost biosorbents for removal of several pollution type: heavy metal ions (Cu, Pb), uranium as radionuclide and mycotoxins. Biosorption treatment method is especially applicable in developing countries where a 'low cost tech' approach may be a suitable option.

Konvencionalne tehnologije za uklanjanje polutatanata iz životne sredine nisu ekonomski isplative i uglavnom generišu velike količine hemijski toksičnih muljeva. Biosorpcija se promoviše kao potencijalno alternativna tehnologija u odnosu na konvencionalne, zasnovana na primeni ekonomski prihvatljivih bioloških mateirjala koje odlikuje niska cena, visoka efikasnost, obnovljivost, minimiziran hemijski i biološki otpad, regeneracija biosorbenata sa mogućnošću izdvajanja metala. U radu su prikazani neki rezultati ispitivanja efikasnosti koščica breskve, poreklom iz 'Vino Župa' Aleksandrovac, kao agroindustrijskog otpada i urbanog otpada, vodene biljke, Miriophillum spicatum, iz veštačkog Savskog jezera u Beogradu, kao jeftinih biosorbenata za uklanjanje teških metala (Cu, Pb), uranijuma kao radionuklida i mikotoksina iz vodenih rastvora. Zemlje u razvoju poput Srbije, koje imaju velike količine otpadne biomase, biosorpcione tehnologije otvaraju mogućnost razvijanja efikasnih i jeftinih adsorbenata za uklanjanje različitih tipova polutanata sa perspektivom otvaranja novih tržišta.