Biosorption of Furfural and Mercury from Aqueous Solution by Anaerobic Sludge Live and Dead Biomass in Batch System

The biosorption of furfural and Hg2+ from simulated waste water using anaerobic sludge live and dead biomass were investigated. Batch type experiments were carried out to find the equilibrium isotherm data for each single and binary system. Ten isotherm models were used for single component and four models for binary system. Langmuir model gave the best fitting for the single system, while the binary system was fitted successfully with extended Langmuir model. The biosorption capacity for single system decreased by 18-47 % and 53-88 % in the binary system. Species of microorganisms identified in anaerobic sludge. The microorganisms found in the sludge were heterogeneous and consist mainly from facultative anaerobic bacteria, yeast, fungi and protozoa. FT-IR analysis was carried out before and after biosorption to determine which functional groups were responsible for binding the heavy metals and furfural. R2 used to enhance the justification analysis for each used model.