4.7 Article

Synergistic removal of cadmium and organic matter by a microalgae-endophyte symbiotic system (MESS): An approach to improve the application potential of plant-derived biosorbents

Journal

ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION
Volume 261, Issue -, Pages -

Publisher

ELSEVIER SCI LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.envpol.2020.114177

Keywords

Cadmium; Organic matter; Biosorption; Endophytes; Chlorella vulgaris

Funding

  1. National Natural Science Foundation of China [51968048, 51678285, 51720105001, 51768046, 51568050]
  2. National Key Research and Development Program of China [2018YFC0406400]
  3. Key Research and Development Program of Jiangxi Province [20173ABC28010, 20171ACG70021]
  4. Cultivating Project for Academic and Technical Leader of Key Discipline of Jiangxi Province [20165BCB19008]

Ask authors/readers for more resources

Plant-derived materials as environmentally friendly biosorbents to remove heavy metals from waste-water have been extensively studied. However, the chemical oxygen demand (COD) increase caused by the plant-derived biosorbent has not been considered previously. In this study, water hyacinth was used as biosorbent to remove Cd(II) from wastewater. About 66% of Cd(II) was removed by the biosorbent with a maximum biosorption capacity (q(max)) of 21.6 mg g(-1). However, the COD of the filtrate increased from 0 to 292 mg L-1 during this process. Subsequently, endophytes, microalgae and the microalgae-endophyte symbiotic system (MESS) were assessed for the simultaneous Cd(II) and COD removal. Among these three systems, the MESS achieved the best performance. After 3 d of inoculation, the extent of total Cd(II) removal increased to 99.2% while COD decreased to 77 mg L-1. This study provides a new insight into the application of a plant-derived biosorbent in combination with microalgae and endophytes for the effective treatment of heavy metal-bearing wastewater. (C) 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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