International Journal of Application or Innovation in Engineering & Management (IJAIEM)

Web Site: www.ijaiem.org Email: editor@ijaiem.org

Volume 7, Issue 2, February 2018 ISSN 2319 - 4847

Biosorption of lead by marine green algae ulva

lactuca from Industrial Waste Water
S. Venkateshwara kumar1,G.Chanikya2 , Pingali Manasa3 , Meena Vangalapati*4

1
Research scholar ,Department of Chemical Engineering, SVUCE(A), SV University, Tirupathi,,A P, India.
2
Btech student, Center for Biotechnology, Dept of Chemical Engineering ,AUCE (A), Andhra University, A.P, India
3
M.Tech Student, Center for Biotechnology, Dept of Chemical Engineering, AUCE (A), Andhra University, A.P, India
*4
Professor, Dept of chemical Engineering, AUCE (A), Andhra University, A.P, India.

ABSTRACT
The major changeling problem in recent times is dealing with environmental pollution. The water pollution is one
of the main reason for health hazards caused due to high percentage of toxic heavy metals like lead, nickel,
chromium etc. The non biodegradable nature of Lead is the prime reason for its prolonged persistence in the
environment. Removal of lead deals with reason of maintaining healthy environment. The removal percentage of
lead is performed by biosorption process using ulva lactuata and parameters are evaluated like pH, initial
concentration, dosage, agitation time, temperature. The Lead removal percentage 90.76% is observed at various
optimum parameters like contact time 83.06 min , dosage at 1gm, initial concentration 40 ppm , pH 4,
temperature 313 K . From the optimized results, it is herewith to conclude that marine green algae ulva lactuca as a
biosorbent in removal of lead is considered to be a promising and cheap mean to utilize for heavy metal removal
from various industrial wastewater.

Keywords: Biosorption, Optimization, Lead, Industrial wastewater, Marine green algae ulva lactuca.

1.INTRODUCTION
Environmental pollution is trending to be a major problem in present scenario[1]. Industrial water pollution is found to
be a major problem compared to other pollutions of environment[2]. The most important toxic metals regarding to
potential disasters and presence in contaminated water were: arsenic (As), cadmium (Cd), chromium (Cr), mercury
(Hg), lead (Pb) and zinc (Zn)[3,4]. Lead is one out of four metals causing the most damaging effects on human health.
Lead is a problematic metal which is available highly abundant in e-waste[5]. Because of the lead chronic effects and
Agricultural hazards, the removal of lead is important for the sack of environmental protection. Chronic toxicity of lead
occurs at blood Lead levels of about 40–60 μg / dL[6]. Lead toxicity is a particularly insidious hazard with the potential
of causing irreversible health effects[7]. It is known to interfere with a number of body functions and it primarily affects
hematopoietic, central nervous, renal and hepatic system producing serious disorders. The conventional treatment
methods like adsorption, biosorption, filtration etc.[8] Biosorption is a process that uses inexpensive biomaterials to
sequester metals from aqueous solutions and the biomaterials used in this process are termed as biosorbents[9]. The by-
products from agriculture, food and pharmaceutical industries provide economically viable sources of biosorbent The
aim of this research work is to remove the lead perecntage[10] present above toxic level using biosorption process with
marine algae ulva lactuata. The main reason of selecting biosorption is cost effective, effective removal of lead, easy
availability[11].

2.MATERIALS AND METHODOLOGY

PLANT COLLECTION
Marine green algae ulva lactuca (Fig.1) on rocks was collected from Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh.

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International Journal of Application or Innovation in Engineering & Management (IJAIEM)
Web Site: www.ijaiem.org Email: editor@ijaiem.org
Volume 7, Issue 2, February 2018 ISSN 2319 - 4847

Fig.1 Marine green algae ulva lactuca

COLLECTION OF WATER SAMPLE:

Industrial wastewater(Fig.2) was collected from beach area of Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh.

Fig.2: Waste water containing Lead Fig.3:Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer

PREPARATION OF BIOSORBENT
The collected marine algae is washed and purified, recultivated. The ulva lactuaca is kept for growth in a standard algal
culture medium for 24 hrs in an incubation of 24± 2 oC. The biomass is then taken and agitated at 1000 rpm for 15
mins. The biomass is cleaned and washed 5 times with distilled water. then they are grounded and sieved at 200µm size
and dried completely. The biomass obtained at an exponential growth rate is then taken and kept for biosorption of
lead. [12,13]

PROCEDURE
Lead containing waste water of 100 ppm is collected from local area, From this stock solution 30 ppm of initial lead
concentration is prepared. Then biosorption of lead is carried out by varying different parameters. After biosorption,
the samples are analyzed by Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer.[14]

EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

Optimization of parameters like pH, Contact time, Initial concentration, Dosage, Temperature plays a key role after the
removal of lead to determine the level of rate efficiency removed from battery wastewater using biosorption of lead by
marine green algae ulva lactuca. [14]

EFFECT OF AGITATION TIME

50 mL of Lead sample solution having 30 ppm concentration was taken in 13 numbers of 250 mL capacity Erlenmeyer
flask. At pH 3 ,mesh size 200 ,temperature 30 and 0.5g of acidified neem saw dust was added to Erlenmeyer
flask and it was kept in an orbital shaker and agitated at 100 rpm. For different agitation time like 1, 3, 5, 10, 15, 20,
25, 30, 40, 50, 60, 90, 120, 150 and 180 min. Fig.4 shows the effect of agitation time on adsorption of lead. The
highest removal percentage of lead 83.06% is observed at optimum time 180 min.

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International Journal of Application or Innovation in Engineering & Management (IJAIEM)
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Fig.4 EFFECT OF AGITATION TIME

EFFECT OF DOSAGE
The effect of dosage can be determined by considering 50ml of lead solution from 30 ppm concentration into 5 numbers
of 250 ml capacity Erlenmeyer flask at pH 4, mesh size 200 , temperature 30 mg of acidified neem
saw dust is added to each flasks ranging (0.25,0.5,1,1.5,2) and agitated at 100 rpm, Fig.5 shows the effect of dosage on
adsorption of lead. The highest % removal of lead is found to be 86.29at optimum dosage of 1gm/l.

Fig.5 EFFECT OF DOSAGE

EFFECT OF INITIAL CONCENTRATION
50 mL of Lead test solution having 30 ppm concentration was taken in 5 numbers of 250 mL capacity
Erlenmeyer flask. At pH 4 ,mesh size 200 µm ,temperature 30 and 0.5g of acidified neem saw clean was included to
Erlenmeyer flask and it was kept in an orbital shaker and agitated at 100 rpm. For different initial concentrations like
10, 20, 30, 40, 50 ppm , Fig.6 shows the effect of initial concentrations on adsorption of lead. The highest removal
percentage 89.90% of lead is identified at ideal concentration at 40 ppm.

Fig.6 EFFECT OF INITIAL CONCENTRATION

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Effect of pH
Effect of pH is a important criteria for determination of various parameters like contact time, initial concentration,
temperature. The effect of pH can be determined by considering 50ml of lead solution from 30ppm concentration into 8
numbers of 250 ml capacity Erlenmeyer flask. At pH 4,mesh measure 200 µm ,temperature 30 and 0.5g
of acidified neem saw clean was included to Erlenmeyer flask. The pH of lead solution in the flask at different pH
values like 2, 4, 6 and 8 using 0.1N H2SO4 and 0.1 N NaOH solution and agitated at 100 rpm for 90 mins. In Fig .7
shows the effect of pH in adsorption process of lead. The high removal percentage of 87.55% at optimum pH 4.

Fig.7 EFFECT OF pH
EFFECT OF TEMPERATURE
The effect of Temperature can be determined by considering 50ml of lead solution from 30 ppm concentration into 5
numbers of 250 ml capacity Erlenmeyer flask. At pH 4,mesh size 200 µm ,temperature 30 and 0.5g
of acidified neem saw clean was included to Erlenmeyer flask and agitated at 100 rpm for 30 mins at different
temperature intervals like 283, 293, 303, 313 & 323 K. Fig.7 shows effect of temperature in adsorption of lead. The
maximum removal percentage 90.76%. is identified at optimum temperature 313 k.

Fig.7 EFFECT OF TEMPERATURE

3.CONCLUSION
Now a days, mortality rate is increased day by day due to environmental pollution and intake of toxic metals into body.
Lead is considered as one of most damaging metal effecting human health The present work is to perform biosorption
of lead from industrial wastewater by ulva lactuacta. The process is performed and the various parameters are
determined. The high removal percentage of lead 90.76 % at an optimum parameters like pH 3. agitation time
180min, Initial concentration 40 ppm, Dosage 1gm, temperature 313K. This experimental study on biosorbent would
be quite useful in developing appropriate technologies for the removals of heavy metals ions from industrial
wastewater.

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International Journal of Application or Innovation in Engineering & Management (IJAIEM)
Web Site: www.ijaiem.org Email: editor@ijaiem.org
Volume 7, Issue 2, February 2018 ISSN 2319 - 4847

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