Journal ofEnvironment & Research VINANIE PUBLISING Immobilization of Saccharomyces cerevisiae on low-cost lignocellulosic substrate for the removal of Cd2+ from aquatic systems

ABSTRACT Cadmium in aquatic system poses severe ecological and health threats. Bioremediation techniques can offer an efficient strategy for the removal of cadmium from aquatic systems. The present study explores the potential of a common yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) immobilized on delignified cellulosic substrate (beech sawdust) for removal of cadmium from acidic effluents. The proposed biosorbent exhibits satisfactory Cd2+ removal over a wide pH range. At the initial cadmium concentration of 4- 100 mg/L, the Cd(II) removal efficiency varied from 28 to 18%. The Langmuir, Freundlich and Linear isotherm models were tested for the present system. Of these models, the Linear and Freundlich models provided the highest correlation with the experimental data, whereas Langmuir model provided least satisfactory fit