Bioremoval of Cobalt(II) from Aqueous Solution by Three Different and Resistant Fungal Biomasses

Abstract

The biosorption of Co(II) on three fungal biomasses: Paecilomyces sp., Penicillium sp., and Aspergillus niger, was studied in this work. The fungal biomass of Paecilomyces sp. showed the best results, since it removes 93% at 24 h of incubation, while the biomasses of Penicillium sp. and Aspergillus niger are less efficient, since they remove the metal 77.5% and 70%, respectively, in the same time of incubation, with an optimum pH of removal for the three analyzed biomasses of 5.0 ± 0.2 at 28°C. Regarding the temperature of incubation, the most efficient biomass was that of Paecilomyces sp., since it removes 100%, at 50°C, while the biomasses of Penicillium sp. and Aspergillus niger remove 97.1% and 94.1%, at the same temperature, in 24 hours of incubation. On the contrary, if the concentration of the metal is increased, the removal capacity for the three analyzed biomasses decreases; if the concentration of the bioadsorbent is increased, the removal of the metal also increases. It was observed that, after 4 and 7 days of incubation, 100%, 100%, and 96.4% of Co(II) present in naturally contaminated water were removed, respectively.

Recent Advances in Biosorption of Copper and Cobalt by Filamentous Fungi

“…Temperature affects the biosorption of heavy metals. For the removal of Co (II), it has been shown that the highest adsorption capacity occurred at 50 ± 1 • C: 100, 97.1, and 94.1%, for Paecilomyces sp., Penicillium sp., and A. niger, respectively, over 24 h. These reports are identical to those obtained for P. catenlannulatus, as the biosorption of Co (II) augmented with increasing temperature from 20 to 40 • C (Cárdenas González et al, 2019).…”

“…Earlier studies have shown that the increase of biosorption capacity correlated with both fungal biomasses and the initial cobalt concentration. Cárdenas González et al (2019) confirmed that the percentage of adsorption decreased whenever Co (II) concentration increased from 300 to 600 mg/L during the biosorption of cobalt ions by Penicillium spp. and A. niger.…”

“…(1955), it was remarked that the heavy metal uptake also increased from 100 to 200 mg/L with increasing Co (II) ion concentration from 100 to 600 ppm ( Romero et al, 2006 ). This may be due to the high competition for the functional groups that appear on the surface of the fungal biomass ions ( Cárdenas González et al, 2019 ).…”

“…Moreover, they are easy to grow at a massive scale, with a considerably high biomass yield. Fungi are highly abundant in industrial waste products after fermentation and possess numerous advantages in comparison to other microorganisms such as bacteria ( Table 3 ; Dhankhar and Hooda, 2011 ; Cárdenas González et al, 2019 ). According to Cerino-córdova et al (2012) , Aspergillus terreus Thom (1918), has the capacity to biosorb, 68.52% of copper from aqueous solutions.…”

Bioremediation of water contaminated with uranium using Penicillium piscarium

“…have been shown to be excellent biosorbents of metal ions. 15,16 The biomass of Penicillium sp., Rhizopus sp., and Saccharomyces sp. can biosorb toxic metals, such as U, Th, Sr, Ni, Zn, Pb, Cr, and As.…”