Role of calcium carbonate in the process of heavy metal biosorption from solutions: synergy of metal removal mechanisms

The effect of calcium carbonate on the removal efficiency of cations of the selected heavy metals Cu, Zn and Pb from aqueous solutions using various biosorbents (BS) was investigated under laboratory static conditions. The main mechanism of biosorption of heavy metal cations is ion exchange, whereas the reaction with calcium carbonate results in precipitation of poorly soluble carbonates and hydroxides of the examined heavy metals. Studies conducted under static conditions have shown that the effect of Cu and Zn cations removal from solutions is better when using a mixture of BS and CaCO(3) as compared to the effect of process, in which these two components were used separately. Removal efficiency for Cu and Zn has been shown to increase from 20 to 50% depending on the BS used. For the removal of lead cations, a measurable effect is found only for biosorbents whose active centers are saturated with protons (improvement in removal efficiency by about 20%). A synergy effect in the flow system was also investigated. It was found that under the conditions of the experiment, the addition of powdered CaCO(3), in a weight ratio of 1 g CaCO(3): 15 g BS, increases the removal efficiency of all the metals studied by 20–30%. It has been shown that an important role in the process of heterophasic ion exchange is played by neutralization of protons—desorbed from the biosorbents—with hydroxide ions released into the solution by partial dissolution of CaCO(3) and subsequent hydrolysis reaction.