Cadmium and zinc uptake by dried activated sludge: Equilibrium and experimental design study

Removal of Cd2+ and Zn2+ ions from single and binary solutions by dried activated sludge was studied in batch experiments. It was shown that the metal removal is a rapid process significantly influenced by solution pH. Maximum uptake of both Cd and Zn was reached at pH 6.0 and negligible uptake was observed at pH 2.0. The Langmuir isotherm was found to well represent the measured equilibrium sorption data in single metal systems and the maximum sorption capacities Qmax of the activated sludge (d.w.), calculated from Langmuir model were 540 ± 16 μmol/g for Zn2+ and 510 ± 17 μmol/g for Cd2+ ions. The Response surface methodology (RSM) was used for investigation of interaction and competitive effects in binary metal system. It was found that dried activated sludge in binary system Cd-Zn has slightly higher affinity for Cd2+ comparing with Zn2+ ions. Competitive effect of Cd on Zn uptake increased with increasing solution pH and Cd initial concentration. Maximum sorption capacities of the activated sludge were 321 μmol Cd2+/g and 312 μmol Zn2+/g. RSM appears to be a better tool for the evaluation of interaction and competitive effects in binary systems than both the simple extrapolation from single-component systems and experimentally difficult study of multi-component systems.