Removal of heavy metals from stainless steel effluents by waste biomass from Brazilian alcoholic beverage production

The capacity of waste biomasses from sugar-cane aguardente, a traditional B razilian spirit, for metal biosorption was assessed. Free biomass and bioma ss immobilized onto chitin and Dowex (ion-exchange resin) were utilized to remove chromium, iron and nickel from both synthetic solutions and stainles s steel effluents. The best performance in terms of metal sorbed was observ ed in with free biomass, with the following adsorption capacity: 70% chromi um, 50% iron and 20% nickel at pH 4.0.