Treatment of Nickel Plating Industrial Wastewater by Fungus Immobilized onto Rice Bran

Abstract

The removal of Ni (II) from industrial wastewater was examined by pure rice bran, free Rhizopus arrhizus and immobilized R. arrhizus onto rice bran, and results were compared with each other. Nickel plating industry was imitated in this study and, as a model, synthetic wastewater was used containing approximately 100 mg Ni+2/L. When the pH value was adjusted to 7.0 in the treatment studies made by using free Rhizopus arrhizus, the value of q<inf>eq</inf> was found as 37.8 g/g. In the experiment conducted by pure rice bran, at a pH value of 5.0, the parameter q<inf>eq</inf> was determined as 3.18 mg/g. For enhancing the treatment efficiency and observing the immobilizing characteristics of this fungus, Rhizopus arrhizus was immobilized onto rice bran. The q<inf>eq</inf> values were obtained as 4.23 mg/g at a pH value of 5.0, and the removal was made a maximum at 90 minutes with a q<inf>eq</inf> value of 6.83 mg/g. © 2010 Gurel L, et al.