Biosorption and Recovery of Chromium from Industrial Wastewaters By Using Saccharomyces cerevisiae in a Flow-Through System

ABSTRACT: This study investigated the possibility to adsorb and recycle Cr (VI) from the wastewater of a Cr-electroplating process using Saccharomyces cerevisiae in a flow through system at a pilot scale. In a first set of experiments, it was demonstrated that an HCl pretreatment of the biomass induced a two fold increase in the amount of Cr (VI) removed. In following experiments, 30 l of wastewaters were treated with HCl-pretreated yeast biomass confined in a filter press obtaining an average specific metal removal of 13mg per g of dry biomass. At the end of the bioremoval process, the biomass was incinerated and the ashes so obtained resulted composed by over 90% (w/w) of Cr. The results obtained at pilot scale with Cr-containing wastewaters demonstrated the good metal sorption capability of the acid-pretreated S. cerevisiae biomass and the possibility to recover, at a high purity, the metal from the biomass at the end of the treatment process