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Adsorption of cadmium and lead ions to floc-type biosorbents was reported in this work. Two types of biosorbents containing a marine microalga, Heterosigma akashiwo (Hada) Hada, or a purple non-sulfur bacterium, Rhodobacter sphaeroides, were prepared. The micro-organisms inactivated by steam sterilization were immobilized in casein floc and cross-linked with glutaraldehyde. In the present immobilizing method, we obtained the biosorbents comprising as much as 67% of micro-organism on a dry-weight basis. Simple metal-binding models were applied to explain the adsorption mechanism of bivalent metal ions to the biosorbents. The results showed that casein acted as both the immobilizing material and the adsorbent material. The adsorption of bivalent metal ions to the biosorbents was due to bidentate binding to the acidic sites on casein and monodentate binding to the acidic sites on micro-organisms. The metal-binding constants and the binding capacities of micro-organisms were scarcely influenced by immobilization. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The adsorption of ovalbumin (OA) onto the bubble surfaces was studied with various pHs (3.5, 4.6, 6.0 and 8.0) by a continuous foam separation technique. From the value of the saturated surface density of adsorbed OA, the variation of effective diameter (D) of an OA molecule on the bubble surface was estimated for various pHs (3.5, 4.6, 6.0 and 8.0) of the OA solutions, assuming that the cross section of the OA molecules be circular and that the OA molecules adsorb on the bubble surface in a closest packing structure. The estimated variation of D with pH was attempted to explain based on a model modified from that proposed by Pujar and Zydney [N.S. Pujar, A.L. Zydney, J. Chromatogr. A 796 (1998) 229–238]. The modified model could well reproduce the variation of the effective diameter with pH; the values of D calculated on the basis of the modified model almost agreed with that estimated from the saturated surface density in the present experimental pH range. From these, conclusion was drawn that the modified model presented in this study can express the variation in the effective diameter with pH. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]