REMOVAL THE HEAVY METAL IONS FROM ACIDIC MINE DRAINAGE GENERATED AT “ROSIA MONTANA” GOLD MINE (ROMANIA) BY USING CYPRINUS CARPIO SCALE AS BIOSORBENT
REMOVAL THE HEAVY METAL IONS FROM ACIDIC MINE DRAINAGE GENERATED AT “ROSIA MONTANA” GOLD MINE (ROMANIA) BY USING CYPRINUS CARPIO SCALE AS BIOSORBENT

Summary/Abstract: Biosorption of heavy metals by different waste materials is one of the treatments that has emerged as an environmentally friendly method for removing metals from aqueous solutions. As previous studies reported the potential of chemical pre-treatments to enhance the activity of fish scales in removing heavy metals from synthetic wastewater, in the present study, the biosorptive potential of Cyprinus carpio scales pre-treated with 1 M NaCl, 0.1 M NaOH and 2% soluble potassium salts of humic acids for the removal of Fe3+, Mn2+ and Zn2+ from real acidic mine drainage (AMD) was investigated. Before and after the biosorption process, the biosorbent was characterised using scanning electron microscopy - energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM-EDX). Experiments to determine the effect of the chemical pre-treatment agent on the sorption process were performed. The results showed that this inexpensive biowaste offers great potential for the removal of metal ions since a solid:liquid ratio of 1:50 (g:mL) was sufficient to reduce the Zn concentration below the values established by Romanian legislation, after 240 min of stirring. In the investigated experimental conditions, about 100 %, 82.3 % and 98.08% of iron, manganese, and zinc ions were removed from AMD solution after 240 min of contact with the finest-grained Cyprinus carpio scales sample pre-treated with 0.1 M NaOH.

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