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In this paper the results of the biosorption of lead(II) and cadmium(II) with sugarcane bagasse in fixed bed columns are presented. Experimental data were fitted to several models describing the rupture curve for single-component and two-component systems. The percentages of removal of lead and cadmium in single-component systems are 91% and 90%, respectively. In lead-cadmium bicomponent systems the percentage of elimination of lead was 90% and cadmium 92%. In single-component systems, Yoon-Nelson and Thomas models successfully reproduce the rupture curves. In two-component system, the Dose-Response model was the best one reproducing the experimental rupture curves in the entire measured range.

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A novel dead-end mode operation for filtering anaerobic suspensions was investigated. In this mode, the filtration system automatically adjusted backwashing frequency to a preselected transmembrane pressure set-point. This paper discusses the effectiveness of the backwashing conditions on membrane fouling. Anaerobic suspensions from a conventional wastewater treatment plant digester were used as model suspensions for the trials carried out at lab-scale. Gas sparging aided backwashing significantly enhanced membrane cleaning efficiency. No effect of gas sparging on internal fouling was detected. Also, the cleaning efficiency linearly decreased with permeate flux. Nevertheless, due to a high increase in the reversible fouling, a reasonable net permeate flux (7.2-6.8 L/h m(2)) can be achieved when intermediate fluxes (12-16 L/h m(2)) were imposed and the higher transmembrane pressure set-point value (50 kPa) was applied. Both backwashing duration and flux exhibited similar influence on cake fouling removal for a given volume of permeate produced.

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