Effective biosorption of phenol by the thermophilic cyanobacterium Phormidium sp.

The use of microbial biomass as biosorbent for phenol removal has been extensively studied, but its removal by biosorption by thermophilic cyanobacterium Phormidium sp. has not been investigated to the best of our knowledge. In the present study, some important parameters for biosorption process were optimized, starting with testing the effects of different pH values ranging from 1 to 12, and then initial phenol concentrations of 45.1, 115.3, 181.4, 243.3, 339.9 mg/L on phenol uptake. The efficiency of removal from aqueous solution was higher within the pH 6-8 range, with the maximum of 100% at pH 7 after 24 hours of adsorption time. The highest specific rate was observed as 165.1 mg/g in the presence of 339.9 mg/l initial phenol concentration. The Freundlich adsorption models were fitted to the equilibrium data, which indicated that phenol ions were favourably adsorbed by Phormidium sp.