Bioremediation of Contaminated Water with Unnatural Dye using Blue-Green Alga Spirulina Platensis

Blue-green alga Spirulina platensis as a cheap biosorbent was tested for its ability to remove a common azo dye, C.I. Basic Red 46 (C.I. BR 46), from contaminated water. Dye biosorption was a quick process and biosorption reaction reached equilibrium within 60 min. The pseudo-first-order, pseudo-second-order, logistic, and intraparticle diffusion models were used for the kinetic evaluation. The logistic model presented the best fit to the experimental data. The biosorption data were analyzed using Freundlich, Langmuir, and Dubinin-Radushkevich isotherm models. Langmuir model fitted better to the equilibrium data than Freundlich model. The maximum dye biosorption capacity was obtained as 25.46 mg g-1 for the biosorbent. Dubinin-Radushkevich model showed that the predominant mechanism of the dye biosorption was likely physical biosorption. This study suggests promising biosorption potential of S. platensis for C.I. BR 46 removal from contaminated effluents. 2015 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Environ Prog, 34: 14141419, 2015