Gimenes M., Silva V., Hamerski F., Ribani M., Scheer A., 2016, Biosorption of Copper(II) onto Sericin Powder Derived from Cocoons of the Silkworm Bombyx Mori: Kinetics, Equilibrium and Thermodynamics Studies, Chemical Engineering Transactions, 49, 205-210.
The aim of this study was to evaluate the biosorption of copper(II) ions onto sericin powder derived from Bombyx mori silkworm cocoons. Sericin powder, obtained from aqueous extraction (at 120 °C and 20 min extraction) and cold denaturation, was used as biosorbent to remove ions copper from wastewater. Batch adsorption system was used to investigate the kinetic mechanism, equilibrium and thermodynamic of copper(II) biosorption. The kinetics and equilibrium were studied at pH 4.8 at different temperatures (from 20 to 60 °C). The Langmuir, Freundlich and Temkin isotherm models were used for the equilibrium modelling and the kinetics were evaluated by the fitting of convective mass transfer and diffusion models. The maximumsericin uptake of copper(II) was 21.77 ± 0.21 mg g-1, at 20 °C. The kinetic and equilibrium studies showed fastadsorption and interaction limited to the monolayer surface, with pseudo-second order and Langmuir model providing the best fits. Thermodynamic studies indicated that the system is spontaneous, exothermic and that chemical interactions govern the adsorption process. The results revealed that sericin powder has the potential to be used as a biosorbent for the treatment of wastewater containing the ions copper(II).
