Published Paper Details:

Pollution of waterbodies such as lakes, river, and ponds etc. due to the presence of heavy metals increases upto a greater extent and become a key environmental problem throughout the entire world. Conventional methods for the removal of metal ions from aqueous system are very expensive, time taking, less effective and are not eco- friendly because they produced huge amount of toxic chemical compounds. Biosorption is better alternative technique to conventional treatment method for the biodegradation and removal of metal ions from aqueous system. Biological materials (Biosorbent) have been used as for the biosorption of metal ions from wastewater. In the present investigation, the capability of living biomass of Rhizopus arrhizus for the biosorption of lead metal was studied. Living biomass of Rhizopus arrhizus (100 mg and 200 mg) and contact time of 15 minutes indicates the most appropriate dose and time period for adsorption of lead metal ions. For the adsorption of lead metal solution, maximum adsorption capacity of 100 mg Rhizopus arrhizus biomass was observed as 94.70% at the 80ppm concentration. In case of 200 mg fungal biomass, 98.47 % metal removal was noticed at the 80ppm metal concentration. The maximum specific uptake (Q value) was 37.88 at 80ppm concentration in case of 100 mg biomass. In case of 200 mg biomass, the maximum Q value 19.694 was noticed at 80ppm concentration lead. Present study showed that 100 mg and 200 mg living biomass of Rhizopus arrhizus acts as a effective biosorbent for the adsorption of lead metal ions.