ABSTRACT
The biosorption process involves a biosorbent or biologically derived material and a liquid phase solvent, generally water containing a dissolved substance to be sorbs known as sorbent. In this study, the biomass of Aspergillus niger, A. niger var. scherotorium, and Aspergillus flavus var. scherotorium was used to remove lead metal ions from an aqueous solution. The microorganisms are isolated from lead-contaminated industrial wastewater. Maximum 86.20% lead was absorbed by live biomass of A. niger (optimum pH 4.0; temperature 26°C; and incubation period five days). The biosorption was improved with NaOH-pretreated biomass in A. niger (91.19%), while the least biosorption was seen in without pretreated biomass (66.81%). A similar observation is also seen with A. flavus var. scherotorium, the maximum biosorption was found with NaOH biomass (90.26). Concluded that, the A. niger and A. flavus var. scherotorium have great potential for biosorption of lead, and the pretreatment methods are also helpful to increase the biosorption.
