Biosorption of Nickel Ions by Scenedesmus Obliquus from Aqueous Solution

Disadvantages of conventional techniques for removal of heavy metals from aquatic systems has led to the application of more efficient methods. Biosorption using microalgae is one of the appropriate methods to remove heavy metals. In this study which is performed on 2019, the efficiency of green algae, Scenedesmus obliquus which has a good potential for growing in wastewater, was investigated for the removal of nickel (Ni) as a toxic metal. The algae were first grown up in the BG-11 medium. The algae’s optimum growing condition in a medium consisted of Ni ions, were obtained by applying different temperatures in primitive condition: 10 ppm Ni, pH: 7±0.1. The optimum temperature was accordingly obtained as 30°C with OD = 0.81. Subsequently different Ni solutions (0, 0.5, 1, 2, 5, 10 and 20 ppm) at several contact times (1, 7, 14, and 21 day) were considered; while pH and temperature were 7±0.1 and 30±2 ºC, respectively. The results demonstrated that the algae have optimum Ni removal efficiency (91.07%) at the Ni concentration of 10 ppm. Equilibrium data for Nickel were fitted well by Langmuir adsorption model with maximum adsorption capacity of 25.76 mg/g at the 4th day contact time. The results showed that the microalgae S.obliquus, as a biosorbent, has appropriate capacity to remove heavy metals, especially Ni, from wastewater.