Study of the ligands involved in metal binding to alfalfa biomass
- Univ. of Texas, El Paso, TX (United States). Dept. of Chemistry
- Brookhaven National Lab., Upton, NY (United States)
Previously performed studies have shown that the alfalfa shoot biomass can bind an appreciable amount of copper(II), nickel(II), cadmium(II), chromium(III), lead(II), and zinc(II) ions from aqueous solution. Of the seven different alfalfa populations studied, Malone and African demonstrated the highest capacity for metal binding. Laboratory experiments were performed to determine the pH profiles, time dependency, capacity for metal binding, as well as the recovery of the metals bound. For most of the metal ions studied, the biomass showed a high affinity for metal binding around pH 5.0 within a short time period. Binding capacity experiments revealed the following amounts of metal ions bound per gram of biomass: 19.7 mg Cu(II), 4.11 mg Ni(II), 7.1 mg Cd(II), 7.7 mg Cr(III), 43 mg Pb(II), and 4.9 mg Zn(II). Most of these metals were recovered from the biomass by treatment with 0.1 M HCl with the exception of Cr(III). Because no Cr(VI) binding occurred, none was recovered. Direct and indirect approaches were applied to study the possible mechanisms involved in metal binding by the alfalfa biomass. The direct approach involves investigations of the alfalfa shoot biomass by X-ray absorption spectroscopy analysis (XANES and EXAFS), which were performed at Brookhaven National Laboratory.
- Research Organization:
- Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), Upton, NY
- Sponsoring Organization:
- National Insts. of Health, Bethesda, MD (United States); Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC (United States); USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC02-76CH00016
- OSTI ID:
- 585728
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-9705104--
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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