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. 2021 Aug 25;14(17):4810.
doi: 10.3390/ma14174810.

Eco-Friendly Biosorbents Based on Microbial Biomass and Natural Polymers: Synthesis, Characterization and Application for the Removal of Drugs and Dyes from Aqueous Solutions

Lăcrămioara Rusu  1 , Cristina-Gabriela Grigoraș  1 , Elena Mirela Suceveanu  1 , Andrei-Ionuț Simion  1 , Andreea Veronica Dediu Botezatu  2 , Bogdan Istrate  3 , Ioan Doroftei  3
Affiliations

Eco-Friendly Biosorbents Based on Microbial Biomass and Natural Polymers: Synthesis, Characterization and Application for the Removal of Drugs and Dyes from Aqueous Solutions

Lăcrămioara Rusu et al. Materials (Basel). .

Abstract

Pharmaceuticals and dyes are a very important part of the nonbiodegradable or hard biodegradable substances present in wastewater. Microorganisms are already known to be effective biosorbents, but the use of free microbial cells involves difficulties in their separation from effluents and limits their application in wastewater treatment. Thus, this study aimed to develop biosorbents by immobilizing Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Saccharomyces pastorianus and Saccharomyces pastorianus residual biomass on natural polymers (alginate and chitosan) and to evaluate the biosorptive potential for removal of pharmaceuticals and dyes from water. Six types of biosorbents were synthesized and characterized by Scanning Electron Microscopy and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy techniques and their biosorptive capacities for three drugs (cephalexin, rifampicin, ethacridine lactate) and two dyes (orange II and indigo carmine) were evaluated. The obtained results show that the removal efficiency depends on the polymer type used for the immobilization. In case of alginate the removal efficiency is between 40.05% and 96.41% for drugs and between 27.83% and 58.29% for dyes, while in the case of chitosan it is between 40.83% and 77.92% for drugs and between 17.17% and 44.77% for dyes. In general, the synthesized biosorbents proved to be promising for the removal of drugs and dyes from aqueous solutions.

Keywords: Saccharomyces cerevisiae; Saccharomyces pastorianus; alginate; biosorption; chitosan; drug; dye.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest. The funders had no role in the design of the study; in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript, or in the decision to publish the results.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Molecular structure of sodium alginate (A) and chitosan (B) natural polymers.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Biosorbents photographs.
Figure 3
Figure 3
SEM images of biosorbents prepared by immobilization of yeast strains on calcium alginate polymer ((A): SC-A-5%; (B): SP-A-5%).
Figure 4
Figure 4
SEM images of biosorbents prepared by immobilization of yeast strains on chitosan ((A): SC-C-2.5%; (B): SP-C-2.5%).
Figure 5
Figure 5
SEM images of biosorbents prepared by immobilization of residual microbial biomass on alginate ((A): SPRMB-A-5%; (B): SPRMB-A-9%).
Figure 6
Figure 6
FT-IR spectra of the synthesized biosorbents.
Figure 7
Figure 7
pHPZC of the synthesized biosorbents.
Figure 8
Figure 8
Dyes tested on the obtained biosorbents.
Figure 9
Figure 9
Drugs tested on the obtained biosorbents.
Figure 10
Figure 10
Removal efficiency of drugs and dyes on synthesized biosorbents.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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