Biosorption of chromium, cadmium, and cobalt from aqueous solution by immobilized living cells of Chryseomonas luteola TEM 05.

In this work, the potential use of the immobilized cells of Chryseomonas luteola TEM 05 for the removal of Cr(+6), Cd(+2) and Co(+2) ions from aqueous solutions was investigated. The living cells of C. luteola TEM 05 were firstly entrapped both in carrageenan and chitosan coated carrageenan gels and then used in biosoption of the metal ions in batch reactors at pH 6.0, 25 degrees C, in 100 mg L(-1) of each metal solution. Besides this, a process of competitive biosorption of these metal ions was also described and compared to single metal ion adsorption in solution. According to the immobilization results, the replacement of KCl by KCl-chitosan as gelling agent improved the mechanical strength and thermal stability of the gel. In addition, the C. luteola TEM 05 immobilized carrageenan-chitosan gel system was quite more efficient for the fast adsorption of metal ions from aqueous solution than the carrageenan gels without biomass.