Determination of Sorption Properties of Heavy Metals in Various Biosorbents

Various techniques of determination of properties of physicochemical processes of heavy metal sorption in biosorbents were analysed. The methods of preparing and storing samples, conditions of experiment performance, as well as the methods of data interpretation were discussed. Two procedures of study were analysed: (1) in the static system of biosorbent-solution contact and (2) in the system of dynamic flow of solution. Copper cation sorption was studied. The effect of consecutive stages of the study on the quality of final results was shown. A high degree of uncertainty of the sorption capacity assessment was reported, which was dependent on the manner of conducting the study. The application of the pseudo-second order reaction model was substantiated to describe kinetics of cation-exchange sorption and the model of Langmuir isotherm to describe equilibria. The study conducted reveals that in order to perform comparative analyses, it is necessary to establish a joint concept of conducting studies and the interpretation of results.