Biosorption of Uranium by Baker’s Yeast in the Presence of Lead and Cadmium and Modeling of Equilibrium Data

Biosorption technology is one of the novel technologies used for removal and recovery of radioactive metals from aqueous solutions. Scheduled researches are required for this technique. In this research, biosorption of uranium, lead and cadmium by immobilized baker’s yeast on calcium alginate was investigated. Equilibrium parameters in single systems and binary systems (uranium-lead and uranium-cadmium) were studied. The obtained results in single systems showed that the uranium uptake capacity is higher than that of lead and cadmium. Also, according to the observations in binary systems, the uranium uptake capacity was decreased by interferences of lead or cadmium ions. Nevertheless, uranium uptake capacity in these binary systems is high (more than 130 mg g-1 in uranium-lead and 200 mg g-1 in uranium-cadmium binary systems). The equilibrium isotherms were modeled by Langmuir, Freundlich and combination Langmuir-Freundlich models in single systems and the competitive Langmuir, modified extended Langmuir, extended Freundlich and combination Langmuir-Freundlich models in binary systems. According to the results, the Freundlich model in single systems and the extended Freundlich model in binary systems were found to be better than the others.