Spirulina Platensis: Potential Biosorbent for Lead

Heavy metal contamination is one of the problems encountered by industrialized countries due to its harmful implications. At present, biosorption, a biological method in removing heavy metal ions, is deemed as an inexpensive and effective alternative to physico-chemical methods of separation in treating wastewater contaminated with heavy metal ions. This study Spirulina platensis: Potential Biosorbent for Lead aimed to prove the effectiveness of Spirulina platensis in absorbing lead ions from simulated wastewater. S. platensis and lead acetate were obtained from UPLB. Four separate 90 ml lead solutions, each containing 50 ppm of lead, were prepared and inoculated with 10 ml of S. platensis.

To test for contact time, each of these lead solutions was filtered and the filtrates were analyzed spectrophotometrically for the remaining lead concentrates. Results obtained from the Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer showed that S. platensis biologically absorbed 89.12% lead within the first 6 hours of contact with the solustion. However, in the succeeding hours of contact, fluctuating absorbance was observed but still favorable for biosorption. Correlation analysis showed that there was no significant relationship between the final concentration and the contact time. The variance accounted for the concentration by the contact time was only 28.09%. Based on the standard deviation, which is 19.64% between the samples in the concentration, there was a significant decrease between the initial and final concentration. Therefore, S. platensis is an effective biosorbent and can be used to bioremediate lead contaminated water.

Materials & Equipment




Further clarification of the procedures and results should be directed to the researchers and adviser.

Researchers:
Jose Alfonso A. Casurra

Adviser:
Marygen C. Sitoy
Caraga Regional Science High School