Lead removal efficiency using biosorbents as alternative materials for permeable reactive barriers

As alternative materials for heavy metal removal, this study investigated biosorbents to determine their suitability for permeable reactive barriers. The lead removal efficiencies of brown seaweed (Undaria pinnatifida) and reed (Phragmites australis) were determined under different conditions (batch and column system). The experimental results for these biomaterials fitted the Langmuir isotherm with high correlation values. It was verified that the influence of temperature on affinity was higher than that on adsorption capacity. While the lead removal efficiency of U. pinnatifida was higher than of P. australis in the batch experiments, lead removal efficiency decreased for both materials at approximately the same time in the column experiments. This indicates that the dominance of the chemical and physical adsorption mechanisms could result in differences in these systems.