Biosorption of Aluminum From Aqueous Solutions by Using Macrofungus (Cortinarius armillatus): Equilibrium, Kinetic, and Thermodynamic Studies and Determination by GFAAS

By using low-cost methods and materials, the removal of toxic metals from wastewater samples is a practical approach especially for large-scale applications. Fungi are abundantly available biomaterials and can be used as efficient biosorbents. In this sense, an interesting type of macrofungus, Corttnartus arnttllatus (C artnillatus) was used for removal of Al(III) ions from aqueous solution. The sorption of Al(III) ions onto the surface of the biosorbent was investigated by FT-IR spectroscopy and the SEM technique equipped with EDX analysis. Determination of Al(III) in the aqueous solution was performed with graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry (GFAAS). Maximum adsorption capacity (161.23 mg g(-1)) was achieved at pH 5, 20 degrees C and 90 minutes. The pseudo-secondorder kinetic modeling best fits the kinetic data with a regression coefficient of >0.999 at the employed temperatures. Thermodynamic evaluations confirmed the exothermic and spontaneous character of the biosorpti