L. hyperborea was placed in contact with the petrochemical
wastewater containing Zn, Ni and Cu, under mixing, with a solid/
liquid ratio of 1.5 g/L until equilibrium was reached (about 16 h).
The saturated seaweed was washed with distilled water (2 cycles
of 40 min) to remove the excess of metals on the surface of the biomass,
not bound to the functional groups. Afterwards, the
exhausted biomass was dried in an oven at 45 C for 24 h and
stored. Desorption studies were then conducted using the
exhausted biomass. Approximately 0.075 g of metals-loaded alga
(Me-alga) was placed in contact with 50 mL of HCl solution
(0.5 –1.5 M) over 3 h, at constant stirring and temperature
(180 rpm and 25 C). Kinetic desorption studies were performed
in batch mode using 0.4 M and 1.0 M HCl solutions under similar
conditions of saturation kinetics. Samples were collected at predetermined
time intervals during 3 h. The samples were filtered and
the residual metal concentrations were determined by AAS.