Removal of Mercury by Foam Fractionation Using Surfactin, a Biosurfactant

International Journal of Molecular Sciences

Hau-Ren Chen⁵  Chien-Cheng Chen¹  A. Satyanarayana Reddy⁴  Chien-Yen Chen⁴  Wun Rong Li³  Min-Jen Tseng⁵  Hung-Tsan Liu⁴  Wei Pan²  Jyoti Prakash Maity⁴ 

[1] Department of Biotechnology, National Kaohsiung Normal University, No. 62, Shenjhong Road, Yanchao Township, Kaohsiung County 82444, Taiwan; E-Mail:;Department of Physics, National Chung Cheng University, 168 University Road, Minhsiung, Chiayi 621, Taiwan; E-Mail:;Departments of Urology, Mackay Memorial Hospital, 92, Section 2 Chung San North Road, Taipei 10449, Taiwan; E-Mail:;Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, National Chung Cheng University, 168 University Road, Minhsiung, Chiayi 621, Taiwan; E-Mails:;Department of Life Science, National Chung Cheng University, 168 University Road, Minhsiung, Chiayi 621, Taiwan; E-Mails:

关键词: mercury removal;    foam fractionation;    biosurfactant;    Surfactin;   

DOI  :  10.3390/ijms12118245

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

The separation of mercury ions from artificially contaminated water by the foam fractionation process using a biosurfactant (surfactin) and chemical surfactants (SDS and Tween-80) was investigated in this study. Parameters such as surfactant and mercury concentration, pH, foam volume, and digestion time were varied and their effects on the efficiency of mercury removal were investigated. The recovery efficiency of mercury ions was highly sensitive to the concentration of the surfactant. The highest mercury ion recovery by surfactin was obtained using a surfactin concentration of 10 × CMC, while recovery using SDS required < 10 × CMC and Tween-80 >10 × CMC. However, the enrichment of mercury ions in the foam was superior with surfactin, the mercury enrichment value corresponding to the highest metal recovery (10.4%) by surfactin being 1.53. Dilute solutions (2-mg L⁻¹ Hg²⁺) resulted in better separation (36.4%), while concentrated solutions (100 mg L⁻¹) enabled only a 2.3% recovery using surfactin. An increase in the digestion time of the metal solution with surfactin yielded better separation as compared with a freshly-prepared solution, and an increase in the airflow rate increased bubble production, resulting in higher metal recovery but low enrichment. Basic solutions yielded higher mercury separation as compared with acidic solutions due to the precipitation of surfactin under acidic conditions.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2011 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.