La biosorción es un proceso que permite la captación activa o pasiva de iones metálicos, debido a la propiedad que diversas biomasas vivas o muertas poseen para enlazar y acumular este tipo de contaminantes por diferentes mecanismos. La aplicación de materiales de bajo costo obtenidos a partir de diferentes biomasas provenientes de la flora microbiana, algas y residuos agroindustriales ha sido investigada para reemplazar el uso de métodos convencionales en la remoción de contaminantes, tales como los metales pesados. Entre los metales de mayor impacto al ambiente por su alta toxicidad y difícil eliminación se encuentran el cromo, níquel, cadmio, plomo y mercurio. En el presente trabajo se estudian las generalidades de la adsorción como proceso alternativo para la remoción de contaminantes en solución y las biomasas comúnmente usadas en estos procesos, además de algunas de las modificaciones realizadas para la mejora de la eficiencia de adsorción de las mismas. Se concluye que el uso de la adsorción en la remoción de contaminantes en solución acuosa mediante el uso de biomasa residual es aplicable a estos procesos de descontaminación evitando problemas subsecuentes como la generación de lodos químicos, y generando un uso alternativo a materiales considerados como desechos. Se identifica además que factores como el pH de la solución, tamaño de partícula, temperatura y la concentración del metal influyen en el proceso.

The effect of adsorbent dose and initial concentration on removing the azo-anionic dyes Congo Red andtartrazine present in a synthetic aqueous solution was studied using natural cellulose (CC) and modified cationic cellulose (MCC) from coconut mesocarp. Three levels of adsorbent dosage (5, 8 and 12 mg/L) and initial concentration (40, 70 and 100 mg/L) were used. Cetyl trimethyl ammonium chloride (CTAC) was used as a modifying agent. TGA and DSC showed that the extracted cellulose was of good quality, composed mostly of cellulose with lignin and hemicellulose traces, and 8% moisture. The FTIR spectrum showed the effectiveness of the modification in the structure of the material with symmetric deformation of the C₆H₆-Cl group in 1472 cm⁻¹ present in the CTAC. It was found that decreasing the adsorbent dosage and increasing the initial concentration favored the dyes’ adsorption capacity on the two bioadsorbents. Tartrazine removals of 5.67 mg/g on CC and 19.61 mg/g on MCC were achieved, and for CR of 15.52 mg/g on CC and 19.99 with MCC with removal percentages over 97% with the quaternized biomass in all cases. The kinetic and equilibrium study was carried out to identify the mechanisms involved in the adsorption process. The Freundlich model can describe the equilibrium isotherm data of tartrazine on CC and MCC. In contrast, those of CR is defined by the Langmuir and Dubinin–Radushkevic models for CC and MCC, respectively Adsorption kinetics showed that equilibrium was reached at 30 min, with rapid adsorption in the initial minutes with the removal of about 97% of the contaminant in the first 5 min; fitting to kinetic models showed that the kinetics of tartrazine on CC was fitted by Elovich (R² = 0.756), and on MCC the Elovich (R² = 0.887) and pseudo-second-order (R² = 0.999) models. Removing CR on CC was fitted by pseudo-first-order, pseudo-second-order and Elovich models (R² > 0.98), and when using MCC, all models show a good fitting with R² = 0.99 in all cases.

The removal of water pollutants has been widely addressed for the conservation of the environment, and novel materials are being developed as adsorbent to address this issue. In this work, different residual biomasses were employed to prepare biosorbents applied to lead (Pb(II)) ion uptake. The choice of cassava peels (CP), banana peels (BP), yam peels (YP), and oil palm bagasse (OPB) was made due to the availability of such biomasses in the Department of Bolivar (Colombia), derived from agro-industrial activities. The materials were characterized by ultimate and proximate analysis, Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), Brunauer-Emmett-Teller analysis (BET), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), and Energy Dispersive X-Ray Spectroscopy (EDS) in order to determine the physicochemical properties of bioadsorbents. The adsorption tests were carried out in batch mode, keeping the initial metal concentration at 100 ppm, temperature at 30 °C, particle size at 1 mm, and solution pH at 6. The experimental results were adjusted to kinetic and isotherm models to determine the adsorption mechanism. The remaining concentration of Pb(II) in solution was measured by atomic absorption at 217 nm. The functional groups identified in FTIR spectra are characteristic of lignocellulosic materials. A high surface area was found for all biomaterials with the exception of yam peels. A low pore volume and size, related to the mesoporous structure of these materials, make these bioadsorbents a suitable alternative for liquid phase adsorption, since they facilitate the diffusion of Pb(II) ions onto the adsorbent structure. Both FTIR and EDS techniques confirmed ion precipitation onto adsorbent materials after the adsorption process. The adsorption tests reported efficiency values above 80% for YP, BP, and CP, indicating a good uptake of Pb(II) ions from aqueous solution. The results reported that Freundlich isotherm and pseudo-second order best fit experimental data, suggesting that the adsorption process is governed by chemical reactions and multilayer uptake. The future prospective of this work lies in the identification of alternatives to reuse Pb(II)-contaminated biomasses after heavy metal adsorption, such as material immobilization.

The serious toxicological effects of heavy metal ions in aquatic ecosystems have motivated the search for alternatives to reduce contamination of water sources from industrial wastewater. In this work, continuous adsorption of nickel, cadmium, and lead was assessed using a packed bed column filled with Cocoa (Theobroma cacao L.) pod husks widely available in the northern region of Colombia. The physicochemical characterization of the agricultural biomass was performed to quantify its chemical composition by bromatological, FT-IR, and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS). The breakthrough curves were constructed for all heavy metal ions with bed depth of 4 and 7.5 cm, taking aliquots at 10, 30, 60, 90, 120, 150, 180, 210, 240, and 270 min. Moreover, experimental data were fitted to adsorption models in continuous mode to predict adsorptive performance (Adams–Bohart, Thomas, and Yoon–Nelson). For the FT-IR analysis of biomass before and after adsorption, the most representative bands occur around 3200–3900 cm⁻¹ attributed to the presence of hydroxyl groups, showing the destruction of the peaks of lignocellulosic materials. The breakthrough curves revealed that for a 7.5 cm bed, adsorption performance reported the following order of promising results: Pb²⁺ > Ni²⁺ > Cd²⁺; while for a 4 cm bed, Pb²⁺ > Ni²⁺. The mechanism of adsorption of the evaluated metals onto cocoa pod husk was attributed to cationic exchange and microprecipitation due to the presence of Ca, K, and Si in the structure of the bio-adsorbent. Finally, the continuous adsorption was modeled under the mathematical expressions of Adams–Bohart, Thomas, and Yoon–Nelson reporting good fitting with correlation coefficient above 0.95.

El medio ambiente acuático se ha visto afectado en gran medida por los residuos provenientes de com­puestos farmacéuticos, estos no solo afectan los procesos biológicos utilizados para el tratamiento de aguas residuales municipales, sino que también sobrepasan los límites de la potabilización. El objetivo de este ar­tículo es realizar una revisión acerca de los aspectos de consideración con respecto a esta problemática, además las características físico químicas, y su detección en el agua, refiriéndose a esto último no solo como la identificación de estos contaminantes sino también la proporción de ello. En este contexto se discuten las limitaciones que se llevan a cabo con el cuidado de los cuerpos de agua no solo en la disposición de aguas residuales sino también del consumo humano.