The effects of contact time, initial metal ion concentration and pH
were studied. The pH was adjusted using either 0.1 M NaOH or
0.1 M HCl. Analysis and instrumentation for metal uptake tests were
done using FAAS with air/acetylene. The amount of metal sorbed
by biomass or ligand (expressed as % bound or % removal) was calculated
from the difference between the initial metal quantity (Co)
and the metal content of the supernatant (Cf) using the following
equation