In the present study the biosorption characteristics of Cd (II) and Zn (II) ions from monocomponent aqueous solutions by Agaricus bisporus macrofungus were investigated.
The initial metal ion concentrations, contact time, initial pH and temperature were parameters that influence the biosorption.
Maximum removal efficiencies up to 76.10% and 70.09% (318 K) for Cd (II) and Zn (II), respectively and adsorption capacities up to 3.49 and 2.39 mg/g for Cd (II) and Zn (II), respectively at the highest concentration, were calculated.
The experimental data were analyzed using pseudo-first- and pseudo-second-order kinetic models, various isotherm models in linear and nonlinear (CMA-ES optimization algorithm) regression and thermodynamic parameters were calculated.
The results showed that the biosorption process of both studied metal ions, followed pseudo second-order kinetics, while equilibrium is best described by Sips isotherm.
The changes in morphological structure after heavy metal-biomass interactions were evaluated by SEM analysis.
Our results confirmed that macrofungus A. bisporus could be used as a cost effective, efficient biosorbent for the removal of Cd (II) and Zn (II) from aqueous synthetic solutions.