Breakthrough studies of the adsorption of lead from synthetic solution using Liagora viscida in a fixed bed column.

Considering the toxicity, the removal of heavy metals from the liquid effluent is of great significance. This article addresses the impact of the adsorbent bed height and flowrate on the adsorption performance and breakthrough curves in column studies. To explore the potential of Liagora viscida biosorbent, adsorption experiments were conducted in a packed column at various bed heights in the range of 2 to 6 cm and flow rates in the range of 10 to 20 ml/min. The maximum uptake of 53.90 mg/g has been achieved at the flow rate of 20 ml/min for an initial metal solution concentration of 20 ppm and pH and bed height of 6 and 2 cm, respectively. In the current study, the breakthrough (tb) and exhaust times (ts) correspond to 0.1 and 0.9, respectively. To predict the breakthrough characteristics, the experimental data were tested using Bohart‐Adam (B‐A), Bed Depth Service Time (BDST), Thomas, and Yoon‐Nelson (Y‐N) models. The experimental results confirmed that all three models except the Bohart‐Adams model were suitable for the experimental data with a good correlation coefficient. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]