**Author details**

the biosorbent, (b) high efficiency for metal removal at low concentration, (c) potential for biosorbent regeneration and metal valorization, (d) high sorption and desorption rates, (e) limited generation of secondary residues, and (f) relatively environmentally-friendly life cycle

However, after the metal removal from aqueous solutions by the biomass, the recovery of the metal is an important issue. This can be achieved through a metal desorption process, aimed at weakening the metal-biomass linkage. Thus, studies to evaluate the reversibility of the adsorption reactions involved in the biosorption of heavy metals are of great importance. The problems associated with the disposal of exhausted adsorbent can be solved either by its activation or incineration or its disposal after proper treatment. For biosorption and desorption processes, another important aspect is the biosorbent reuse in successive biosorption-desorp‐ tion cycles, the viability of which is determined by the cost-benefit relationship between the loss in biosorption capacity during the desorption steps and the operational yield in the metal recovery. Thus, further studies need to focus on the development of new clean environmen‐

The authors are grateful for financial support from the government agencies Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq), Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de Minas Gerais (FAPEMIG), Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de Goiás (FAPEG) and Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior

*A* Temkin isotherm constant relating to adsorption potential, (L g-1) *B* Temkin isotherm constant relating to heat of adsorption, (J mg-1)

*co* initial metal ion concentration in liquid phase, (mg L-1) Ce concentration of metal in solution at equilibrium, (mg L-1) *c*id constant of the Weber and Morris model, (mg g−1)

FAPEMIG Research Foundation of the State of Minas Gerais FAPEG Research Foundation of the State of Goiás

CAPES Coordination of Improvement of Higher Education Personnel CNPq National Council for Scientific and Technological Development ε Polanyi potential which is related to the equilibrium concentration

β mean energy of sorption, E (KJ mol-1)

of the material (easy to eliminate compared to conventional resins, for example).

tally-acceptable technologies.

246 Applied Bioremediation - Active and Passive Approaches

**Acknowledgements**

(CAPES).

**Nomenclature**

Cleide S. T. Araújo1 , Dayene C. Carvalho2 , Helen C. Rezende2 , Ione L. S. Almeida2 , Luciana M. Coelho3 , Nívia M. M. Coelho2\*, Thiago L. Marques2 and Vanessa N. Alves2

\*Address all correspondence to: nmmcoelho@ufu.br

1 State University of Goiás, Anápolis, GO, Brazil

2 Institute of Chemistry, Federal University of Uberlândia, Uberlândia, MG, Brazil

3 Department of Chemistry, Federal University of Goiás, Catalão, GO, Brazil

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1411–19.


**Chapter 11**

) and heavy metals (viz. copper,

 and

) is industrially important chemical because of its some

(Vapur et al 2005). The total cyanide, gold (Au) and silver (Ag)

© 2013 Itankar et al.; licensee InTech. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use,

distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

**Resource Recovery from Industrial Effluents Containing**

**Precious Metal Species Using Low-Cost Biomaterials —**

**An Approach of Passive Bioremediation and Its Newer**

Industrial wastes can generally be classified as wastes rich in organic matter on one hand and

nickel, iron, zinc, cadmium, chromium, silver, gold, etc.) form a significant part of the latter

unique properties of binding various transition metals to form metal-cyanides (MxCN) complexes of variable stability and toxicity (Sharpe 1976). Therefore, cyanide finds enormous applications in variety of industrial processes. Industries like gold and silver mining, electro‐ plating, printed circuit board manufacturing and jewellery units emanate large-volume lowtenor effluents containing anionic MxCN complexes like gold-cyanide i.e. [Au(CN)2]

content in these effluents ranges from 5-25, 1-2 and 5-10 mg/L, respectively (Patil 1999). The discharge limits for total cyanide is 0.2 mg/L, while for Au and Ag the standards are yet to be set and currently not available. Apart from Au and Ag many other heavy metals normally occur in the effluents in low quantity and concentrations. If inappropriately managed, cyanide and metals or their complexes can be mobilised and carried into the food web as a result of leaching from waste dumps, contaminated soils and waters. At each level of food chains, the concentration of metals increases which results into a phenomenon called biomagnification.

**Applications**

Yogesh Patil

**1. Introduction**

http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/56965

type of wastes. Free cyanide (CN-

silver-cyanide i.e. [Ag(CN)2]

Nilisha Itankar, Viraja Bhat, Jayati Chourey, Ketaki Barve, Shilpa Kulkarni, Prakash Rao and

Additional information is available at the end of the chapter

wastes rich in inorganic matter on the other. Cyanide (CN-


**Resource Recovery from Industrial Effluents Containing Precious Metal Species Using Low-Cost Biomaterials — An Approach of Passive Bioremediation and Its Newer Applications**

Nilisha Itankar, Viraja Bhat, Jayati Chourey, Ketaki Barve, Shilpa Kulkarni, Prakash Rao and Yogesh Patil

Additional information is available at the end of the chapter

http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/56965
