(2024) 18:145
Asaad ﻿BMC Chemistry
https://doi.org/10.1186/s13065-024-01252-w

BMC Chemistry

RESEARCH

Open Access

Sorption of chromium from aqueous
solutions using Fucus vesiculosus algae
biosorbent
Amany A. Asaad1*

Abstract
The presence of heavy metals in wastewater is an environmental concern and the current treatment procedures arevery expensive so it is necessary to find effective and inexpensive biosorbents. In this study, Fucus vesiculosus was used
as a biosorbent for the biosorption of Cr(III) ions from the aqueous solutions. Biosorption parameters, such as pH,
adsorbent dose, contact time, and initial concentrations of Cr(III) had the most impact on the sorption process. The
required pH value for sorption was 5, the biosorbent dose was 4.0 g/L, the contact time was seen to occur after 90
min, and the Cr(III) removal decreased from 98.9 to 92%. The maximum biosorption capacity of chromium was 14.12
mg/g. FTIR analysis of Fucus vesiculosus biomass before the sorption process contains carboxyl, amino, hydroxyl,
alkyne, and carbonyl groups, and according to the analysis after the sorption process, it was found that Cr(III) metal
ions were incorporated within the sorbent during the interaction with (=C–H) active functional groups. The biosorp‑
tion data were found to be perfectly suited by Langmuir equilibrium isotherm model. According to the results of thisstudy, Fucus vesiculosus is an effective biosorbent for the removal of Cr(III) from aqueous solutions.
Keywords Fucus vesiclosus, Biosorption, Heavy metals, Chromium, Water treatment
Introduction
Heavy metals are toxic and carcinogenic, and cannot bebiodegraded. Heavy metals such as zinc, copper, nickel,
mercury, cadmium, lead, chromium, and arsenic havea tendency to build up in living organisms and cause adecrease in species diversity [1–3]. Metal contamination is a global environmental problem that persists andshould be addressed with sufficient measures to prevent its exposure to the public. Heavy metals deposited
because of industrial processes should be removed before
they are received into the water since they are particularly baleful to aquatic habitats. Among these metals,*Correspondence:
Amany A. Asaad
amany_mahgob@hotmail.com
1
Central Laboratory for Environmental Quality Monitoring, National Water
Research Center, El‑Qanater‑Qalubeya 13621, Egypt

chromium is one of the worthy environmental troubles
that continue to cause contamination of aqueous systems
and it is present in various oxidation states such as Cr(III)and Cr(VI). Chromium is used in several industries
such as iron, steel, leather, metal coating, textile industry, electric power plants, coil coating, electroplating,film, photography, galvanometer, and automotive battery manufacturing industries [4–7]. The disposal of thiscommonly used metal in the environment causes critical pollution [8]. Moreover, searching for an important
approach to remove such contaminants is an indispensable task for researchers. In this regard, various biological,
physical, and chemical methods have been adopted for
eliminating such heavy metals from industrial effluents
such as chemical precipitation, ion exchange, and membrane separation techniques. It is preferable to use biological materials (sorbents) as an alternative method forremoving chromium from aqueous solutions because the© The Author(s) 2024. Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which
permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to theoriginal author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images orother third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line
to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory
regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of thislicence, visit http://​creat​iveco​mmons.​org/​licen​ses/​by/4.​0/. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://​creat​iveco​
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Asaad B
﻿ MC Chemistry(2024) 18:145

commonly used procedures for removing Cr(III) from
effluents include chemical precipitation, lime coagulation, ion exchange, reverse osmosis and solvent extraction were apart from being economically expensive havedisadvantages like incomplete metal removal, high reagent and energy requirements, and generation of toxic
sludge or other waste products that require disposal. Efficient and environment friendly methods are thus needed
to be developed to reduce heavy metal content. In thiscontext, considerable attention has been focused inrecent years upon the field of biosorption for the removalof heavy metal ions from aqueous effluents. Biosorption is a property of certain types of inactive, non-living
microbial biomass to bind and concentrate heavy metals
from even very dilute aqueous solution. Biomass exhibits
this property, acting just as chemical substance, as an ion
exchanger of biological origin [9]. Due to some benefits
over conventional methods, the use of sorption materials
in the removal and accumulation of heavy metals from
aqueous solutions has recently received a lot of attention.
Several adsorbents have been used to remove Cr(VI)from water over the last few years, including commercial
inorganic materials such as clay, silica gel, zeolite, alumina, and activated carbon, as well as bio products [10,11] which may be alive or dead, and their effectiveness isdetermined by their loading capacity, selectivity, affinity,
and rate of ion adsorption [12]. Lignocelluloses materials,
in general, are piquing researchers’ interest due to theirsimple design, ease of handling, cheap operating costs,
ease of availability, eco-friendliness, efficiency, and production of minimal toxic chemicals and biological sludge[13]. Furthermore, these materials are abundant in polyfunctional groups, which can contribute significantly tothe selective adsorption of Cr(VI) from aqueous solutions[14]. Another notable property of biosorbents is theirability to convert Cr(VI) to Cr(III) at lower pH values
and to totally remove Cr(VI) at moderate concentrations[15]. The removal ability of the biosorbents is affected byparameters such as pH, adsorbent dose, size, concentration, and contact time during the process.
Various studies indicate that non-living sorbents are
more effective for binding metals than biological sorbents[7]. Marine algae are known to possess excellent mineralbinding capacity in different bio-selective procedures.
The cell membranes of brown algae are usually composed of cellulose and algal acid, which is a straight-chain
polysaccharide with a carboxyl group (–COOH) primarily responsible for binding to minerals, while sulfatedpolysaccharide algae bind to ion salts.. Because of theseproperties, algae (sorbents) are a good choice for adsorbing metal ions from the aqueous solutions in a shortperiod and reducing heavy metal concentricity to the ppb
range [16]. The sorption mechanism of heavy metals on

Page 2 of 11

biosorbents is thought to involve one or more of these:
ion exchange, biosorption, complexation, partial precipitation formation, chelation, and electrostatic interaction.
However, the most significant way that heavy metal ionsare adsorbed by algae is through the ion exchange process [17]. The presence of sulfate groups, as well as a large
number of carboxylic groups in brown marine algae, hasbeen attributed to the biosorption of trivalent metal cations [18]. The characterization of the biosorbent structureand exploration of the reaction mechanism of sorbateions and biosorbents can be identified with the help of
FTIR (Fourier transform infrared) spectroscopy and SEM(A scanning electron microscope coupled with an energy
dispersive spectrometer) is important to determine thestructure of the Fucus vesiculosus [19, 20]. The reportson this kind of biosorbents and their utilization in eliminating heavy metals are few [21].
This paper investigates the biosorption capacity of
Fucus vesiculosus (algae known by different common
names such as bladder wrack, black tang, rockweed, sea
grapes, sea oak, cut weed, and rock wrack) and the chromium affinity toward it. To determine the best conditions
for biosorption, the effects of pH, equilibrium time, andinitial concentrations were examined. FTIR spectroscopy
is used to determine the specific functions involved in theassociation of chromium with this type of algae.

Experimental methods
Preparation and analysis of biomass

Sun-dried Fucus vesiculosus brown algae were broughtfrom a local market in Cairo and then dried andgrounded by an electrical grinder to conduct the biosorption procedures. FTIR spectroscopy was used to determine the effective groups that chromium can occupy
before and after the biosorption. The spectra ranges were
600–4000 ­cm−1 using “Thermo Fisher Nicolet 50 spectroscopy” [22]. A scanning electron microscope (SEM) is
one of the common methods for imaging the microstructure and morphology of the materials [23].
Preparation of metal solution

The preparation of 20 mg/L Cr(III) solution was carriedout by diluting the working standard solution 1000 mg/L­(CrCl2 Merck) to different concentrations from 10 to 50
mg/L. The pH values of those prepared solutions were
adjusted using 1N NaOH and/or 1N HCl.
Biosorption experiment

Biosorption of chromium by (Fucus) was performed bycontacting 4g/L of Fucus with chromium concentration(20mg/L) in a 1000 ­cm3 Pyrex conical flask intermittently for
90 min on the stirrer at 300 rpm. The mixture was filtered,and the residual concentration of the filtrate was analyzed

Asaad ﻿BMC Chemistry(2024) 18:145

Page 3 of 11

using Inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES) which is well suited for such analysis because it is precise for lower concentrations [24]. The
adsorbed amount of chromium (mg/g) was calculatedusing the following formula:qe =(Co − Ce )V
,
M

(1)

where the equilibrium biosorption capacity of Fucus forchromium is denoted by ­qe (mg/g), the weight of thebiosorbent is symbolized by M(g), and the sorbate volume is symbolized by V(L). C­ o and C­ e represent the metal
concentration before and after sorption (mg/L). Hencethe chromium uptake ratio can be evaluated by the next
equation:

R% =Co − Ce× 100.
Co(2)

Effects of operational parameters
The determination of the optimal adsorption parameterssuch as pH of the biosorption solution, dose of biosorbent,
biosorption time, and concentration of the adsorbate solution were essential in knowing the biosorption efficiencyof the biosorbent under equilibrium condition [25]. The
optimal effective adsorption parameters determined whenequilibrium occurs can be achieved by preparing a seriesof a series of chromium solutions with pH values from 2
to 7 at a concentration of 20 mg/L, a shaking speed of 300
rpm, and a doses of (0.5, 0.1, 0.2 and 0.3) g of the adsorbent (Fucus vesiculosus ) at 25 °C. The pH adjustment was
performed using 1 N NaOH and/or 1 N HCl solutions. To
establish the optimal contact time for biosorption studies, 0.2 g of Fucus vesiculosus powder was added to 50
mL of chromium solution at a concentration of 20 mg/L
for 10–120 min at 25 °C. After the sorption process, thesamples were filtered off through 0.45 μm membrane filter
paper. Also the effect of biosorbent dose was investigatedin the 0.05–0.3 g range. This was performed by adding a
specific dose of 50 mL of chromium solution (20 mg/L) andshaking it for 90 min. After that, the sorption capacity of
Fucus vesiculosus was calculated using the aforementioned
equations. The impact of chromium initial concentrationon the biosorption capacity of the biosorbent was studied
by utilizing 0.2 g of Fucus powder and various concentrations of chromium solution (10, 20, 30, 40, and 50 mg/L)
for 90 min at 25 °C and pH 5.
Biosorption isotherm models
Biosorption isotherms were employed to determine
the biosorption behavior of the biosorbent and to provide a connection between the sorbate concentration­Ce and the biosorption capacity ­qe per mass unit of thebiosorbent at equilibrium. Langmuir isotherm showsthat the biosorption occurs on a homogeneous monolayer containing large biosorption sites [26]. The linear form of the Langmuir equation is presented as thefollowing:

1
Ce
Ce
=
+
,
qe
qm KL
qm

(3)

where ­qe is the adsorption capacity at equilibrium, ­Ce
represents the equilibrium concentrations of chromium,­qm is the maximum adsorption capacity at equilibriumand ­KL is Langmuir constant which indicates the adsorption energy. The basic characteristics of the Langmuir
isotherm can be described in terms of dimensionless factor ­RL, which is assumed by:

RL =1(1 + bCo )(4)

Co is the initial concentration of adsorbate and ­RL
explains the adsorption preference of this isotherm andindicates whether the adsorption is irreversible if ­RL = 0,linear if ­RL = 1, or unfavorable if R
­ L > 1.
Freundlich isotherm postulates that biosorption
occurs at the available locations on heterogeneous surfaces [27]. The correlation factor R­ 2 is used to evaluate
the applicability of an isothermal model. The known
logarithmic form of the Freundlich model is presented
in Eq. (5).

lnqe = lnqK F +1
lnCe ,
n(5)

where ­qe and ­Ce are the capacity of biosorption (mg/g)
and the concentration of sorbate (mg/L) at equilibrium,
1/n is related to the intensity of biosorption, KF, and n are
constants.
Temkin model postulates the interactions of adsorbent-sorbate. It exhibits that the heat of an adsorbed
substance is reduced linearly than logarithmically[28]. This model is characterized by a uniform binding
energy distribution up to maximum binding energy and
it is implemented by plotting ­qe against ­lnCe and thenthe constants can be calculated from their slope andintercept.

qe = βT lnKT + βT lnCe ,(6)where ­qe denotes the quantity of adsorbed molecules thatreach a state of equilibrium (mg/g); C­ o is related to theconcentration of the metal (mg/L). β constant is linked tothe heat of biosorption, while R is the gas constant (8.314
J/mol K), and K represents the Temkin isotherm constant(L/g) [29].

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Biosorption kinetic models
Normally, the simulation of biosorption kinetics and evaluation of the reaction rates involve the utilization of thepseudo-first-order, pseudo-second-order, and Elovichkinetic models. The pseudo-first-order kinetic model clarifies the correlation between the adsorbent sorption sitesthat are occupied and the number of unoccupied sites
but The relation between the adsorption capacity of theadsorbent and the time established by the pseudo-secondorder kinetic model [30]. Equations (7) and (8) provide themathematical expressions for the pseudo-first-order andpseudo-second-order, respectively [31].
K1,log(qe − qt ) = logqe −
(7)
2.303

where ­qt (mg/g) is the adsorbate quantity at time t, a is achemisorption rate constant and b is a constant that represents the amplitude of surface coverage and they canbe calculated from the relation between their slope andintercept by plotting q­ t versus lnt. a (mg/g m­ in−1) represents the initial rate of sorption, and b (g/mg) represents
the desorption constant.

Results and discussion
SEM analysis

The surface morphology and initial formation of this species of algae have been found to have rough surfaces withpores of various sizes and shapes, increasing the surface
area for metal ions to interact as shown in Fig. 1.
FT‑IR analysis

t
1
t
+ ,
=
2
qt
K2 qe
qe

(8)

where ­qe is the amount of chromium adsorbed onto
adsorbent at equilibrium in (mg/g), q­t is the amountchromium adsorbed onto adsorbent at any time in(mg/g), and ­K1 is the kinetics rate constant of the pseudofirst-order model (­ min−1). ­K2 is the kinetics rate constantof the pseudo-second-order model (g ­mg−1 ­min−1).
Elovich model is utilized to explain the kinetics of chemical biosorption of gas onto solid adsorbents, but it has
been proven to be effective in describing various types ofbiosorption [32]. The following equation illustrates theElovich model:

qt =

1
1
ln(ab) + lnt,
b
b

(9)

Fucus vesiculosus dried biomass before and after thesorption of chromium was analyzed using Fouriertransform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy to identify
how metal ions and surface biomass interact. Fucus
vesiculosus algae contain polysaccharides that include
many negative charges and functional groups that
can interact with chromium, and these functionalgroups include carboxylate, hydroxyl, amino, andnitro groups [33]. The spectra of adsorbents before
and after chromium uptake were measured from 600
to 4000 ­cm−1 wavenumber [34]. The spectra of Fucus
vesiculosus before the biosorption process showed
different absorption bands at 3280, 2922, 2318, 1259,
and1080 ­cm−1 were shifted to 3287, 2944, 1625, 1220,
and 1029 c­ m−1, respectively, after biosorption of chromium. This result indicated chemical bonding among
binding sites on Fucus biomass and the chromium[35]. The sorption bands of the sorbent at 1535 andFig. 1 Scanning electron micrograph of dried Fucus vesiculosus brown algae(2024) 18:145

Page 5 of 11

Biosorption studies

The pH of the contact solution is an important parameter
controlling the biosorption process. The variation of pH
values changes the solution acidity or basicity and affects
the Fucus surface charge. The pH of the initial chromium
concentration (20 mg/L) varied from 2.0 to 9.0 at a constant dose (4 g/L) and the stirring rate at 300 rpm for 90
min at room temperature (25 °C), as shown in Fig. 3. The
sorption of chromium was raised by increasing pH ranges
from 2.0 to 5.0 where the capacity removal percentage ofchromium reached 96.15%. It may be due to the activefunctional groups in the sorbent that facilitate biosorption by participating in metal ion binding [44]. This wasfollowed by a gradual decrease in the chromium removal% at pH values greater than 5.0. The sorbent mass wasthen varied (0.05–0.3 g/50mL) for an initial Cr(III) concentration of 20 mg/L at 25 °C and pH 5.0 for 90 min asshown in Fig. 4. The sorption of Cr(III) increased withan increase in sorbent mass at an equilibrium time of
90 min from 46 to 96% and the equilibrium biosorption
capacity reached 29 mg/g. This is because the higher the
initial concentration of the metal ions, the higher the
chance of collisions with adsorption sites on the surfaceof the adsorbent. Moreover, the driving force of mass

100

100

98

98

O=C=O-

86

94
92

84

C-N-

(a)

Wave number (cm-1)

88

84
82

82

3840 3440 3040 2640 2240 1840 1440 1040 640

90

86

C-N-

88

CH(Alkyne)-=C-H-

N-OC-O-

90

Transmittance (a.u.)

92

O-H-

C-H Alkene-

C-H Alkyne-

94

96

80

3840 3440 3040 2640 2240 1840 1440 1040 640(b)

Fig. 2 a, b FT-IR spectrum of Fucus vesiculosus before and after Cr(III) sorption

Wave number (cm-1)

80

Transmittance (a.u.)

96

N-OO-HC-O-

O=C=O-

1416 ­cm−1 remain unchanged after the sorption process while those at 1013 and 872 ­cm−1 disappeared(Fig. 2a, b). The vibrational bands in the pure biomassof Fucus vesiculosus before chromium sorption at 3280
­cm−1 and 2922 ­cm−1 are assigned to (C–H stretching)alkyne and alkene groups [36]. The vibrational band at­2318cm−1 is related to carbon dioxide (O=C=O). Theband at 1535 ­cm−1 is due to N–O functional group[37]. The sharp band at 1416 c­ m−1 is probably due tothe bending vibration of the hydroxyl group (O–H)[38]. The vibrational band at 1259 c­ m−1 is restricted
to (C–O) stretching [39]. The band at 1080 c­m−1
relates to the (C–N) stretching mode [40]. The bands
between the wavenumbers of 1800–750 ­cm−1 (fingerprint regions) reflected the biochemical compositions,especially the moieties of carbohydrate, lipid, protein
secondary and polyphenols [41] The band at 8­ 60cm−1
is due to =C–H bending disappeared in the FTIR spectrum for the biomass sample of Fucus vesiculosus after
the chromium sorption process [42]. Figure 2b demonstrated that the chromium was incorporated within
the sorbent during the interaction with the activefunctional groups (=C–H) [43].

CH(Alkene)-

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Removal efficiency %Asaad B﻿ MC Chemistry

100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0

0

Page 6 of 11

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

pH
Fig. 3 Effect of pH on Cr(III) sorption

100%

Adsorption efficiency (%)

90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

Tim(min)Fig. 4 Effect of contact time on Cr(III) sorption

transfer is better, which is conducive to reduce the masstransfer resistance and increase the biosorption capacity [45]. Figure 5 shows the removal of Cr(III) which was
accomplished within 90 min so there is no any additional
sorption and an equilibrium state is reached. The rate of
the biosorption process will increase significantly withincreasing contact time so that it reaches the equilibrium
point. Where, the longer the contact time, the greater theadsorption capacity. Figure 6 explains the effect of Cr(III)concentrations on the sorption process under study inwhich the higher uptake occurred at 90 min under equilibrium [46]. It may be imputed to the consumption of
the available sites of the sorbent stable amount at equilibrium. Therefore, 90 min is the time required time forthe sorption process. The sorption of Cr(III) declined
from 10 mg/L to 50 mg/L and there was a significant rising in ­qe of Cr(III) at the Fucus surface when the Cr(III)concentration ascents from 2.5 to 11.5 mg respectively.

(2024) 18:145

qe (mg/g)

Asaad ﻿BMC Chemistry

100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0

Page 7 of 11qe
Cr Removal %

0

0.05

0.1

0.15

0.2

0.25

40

50

Adsorbent Mass (gm).
Fig. 5 Effect of biosorbent mass on Cr(III) sorption

1412

qe (mg/g)

10
8
6
4
2
0

0

10

20

30

60

Co (mg/l)
Fig. 6 Effect of initial concentration Cr(III) sorption

Hence the decrease in percentage removal from 98.9% to
92% may be attributed to the lack of other available sitesof the sorbent and there is a repulsion force between thesorbate and bulk phase which reduces the uptake of thechromium [47, 48].
Biosorption isotherms

The biosorption isotherms are commonly used to reflect
the performance of biosorbents in biosorption processes.

Langmuir isotherm is useful for monolayer adsorption,
the Freundlich isotherm shows adsorption on the heterogeneous surfaces of adsorbate-adsorbent systems andthe Temkin isotherm model assumes that the adsorptionenergy of all molecules decreases linearly with increasing adsorbent surface occupancy. In this research, thebiosorption isotherms were achieved for chromium solutions of different initial concentrations from 10 to 50
mg/L, an algae dose of 4 g/L at 300 rpm for 90 min, andAsaad B
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Page 8 of 11

at pH 5 [49–51]. The concentration of adsorbed chromium was determined according to Eq. (3). Figure 7a–c
represented the biosorption isotherms of Cr(III) by the
Fucus surface at pH 5 using the Langmuir, Freundlich,
and Temkin models, respectively. Isotherm parameters
are reported in Table 1. The Langmuir constant values ­(KL) show that strong interactions between metal
ions and apparent functional groups are involved in thebiosorption processes, regardless of the nature of metal
ions or biosorbent. The separation factor in Langmuir
isotherm ­(RL) was less than one and the correlation factor­(R2) was 99%, which showed that the biosorption process
was favorable [52]. The parameter 1/n in the Freundlichmodel is less than unity indicating that all biosorption
processes are favourable. Moreover, the obtained values
have better performance in biosorption of chromium(III)metal ions. These observations are also supported by the
Temkin model parameters (Table 1), which show thatin the biosorption process, the retention of metal ionsis achieved through strong interactions, confirming theremoval efficiency trend.
Biosorption kinetics

The kinetics of the Cr(III) biosorption process was evaluated using different kinetic models. Pseudo-first, secondorder kinetics, and Elovich models were applied as shownin (Fig. 8a–c) and the estimated kinetic parameters have

Table 1 Fitting parameters of isotherm models for thebiosorption of Cr(III) on the Fucus vesiculosus biosorbent
ModelsLangmuirFreundlich

TemkinParameters

Valuesqmax

17.06 mg/g

KL0.52 L/mg

RL

0.16

R2

0.99

Kf

5.39 mg/g

n

1.7

R2

0.98

βT

0.27

KT

1.97 L/g

R2

0.97

been illustrated in Table 2. The appropriate kinetic modelof Cr(III) biosorption was governed by the linear correlation coefficient ­(R2) values taken from model plots.
The value of R
­2 in the pseudo-second-order kinetic
model (0.991) was higher than the value of ­R2 in thepseudo-first-order (0.933), hence it may be attributed
to chemically induced biosorption kinetics including
valence strength via ion exchange or through the electron interactions between adsorbed molecules on the
Fucus surface and the adsorbent [53, 54]. It has beenachieved that the high correlation coefficient indicate

3
0.4

2
2.5

0.35
0.3

2

ln qe

0.2

0.5

1.5
1

0.15
0.1
y = 0.0708x + 0.0778
R² = 0.93

0.05

(a)

1

qe

Ce/qe

0.25

0

1.5

0

2

Ce

4

6

-0.5

y = 0.4413x + 1.8138
R² = 0.9804 0.5

-3

(b)

-2

-1

0

0

0.0

10.0

20.0

-1
-1.5
0

1

2

ln Ce

Fig. 7 a–c Langmuir, Freundlich and Temkin Isotherms for the sorption of Cr(III) on the Fucus vesiculosus

y = 0.3605x - 2.5229
R² = 0.8944

-2
-2.5

(c)

ln Ce

Asaad ﻿BMC Chemistry(2024) 18:145

Page 9 of 11

20

2

25

18
16
12

15

t/qt

10

1

8

qt (mg/g)log (qe-qt)

20

14

1.5

6
0.5

0

2
0
0

50

100

5
0

50

y = -0.0195x + 1.4377
R² = 0.9332

100
0t (min.)t (min.)-0.5(a) -110

4(b)y = 0.2058x + 0.686
R² = 0.9918

0

5

10

ln t

(c)

y = 4.317x + 0.3098
R² = 0.9925

Fig. 8 a–c Pseudo first order, pseudo second order and Elovich kinetic models for the sorption of Cr(III) on the Fucus vesiculosus biosorbent

Table 2 Kinetic parameters for the biosorption of Cr(III) on the
Fucus vesiculosus biosorbent
ModelsPseudo-Frist-OrderParameters

Valuesqe

20.30 mg/g

K10.0449 ­min−1

2

Pseudo-Second-Order

Elovich

R

0.93

qe

23.62 mg/g

K20.062 g/mg. min

R2

0.99

qt

14.80 mg/g

a4.63 mg/g ­min−1b0.23 g/mg

R2

0.99

a good fit of experimental data to the pseudo-secondorder model [55]. Also, this indicated that the rate constant ­(K2) of Cr(III) was 0.062 g/mg min, which reveals
that the pseudo-second-order kinetic model is basedon the assumption that the rate-limiting step is chemical sorption or chemisorption and predicts the behavior
over the whole range of adsorption. In this condition, theadsorption rate is dependent on adsorption capacity not
on concentration of adsorbate [56]. Moreover, in order
to comprehend the characteristics of chemisorption, theElovich model has been utilized. The amounts of (1/b)
and (1/b) ln (ab) have been evaluated by the slope andintercept of the linear correlation [57, 58]. The value of(1/b) represents the number of available sites required forbiosorption, while the biosorption quantity is indicatedby the value of (1/b) ln (ab). Elovich model data has been
demonstrated in (Table 2).

Conclusions
This study presents a new approach using Fucus vesiculosus algae to remove chromium from aqueous solutions
in a safe and environmental manner. The maximum chromium removal capacity was 96.15% at pH 5, and dose
(4.0 g/L) in 90 min. The biosorption models described
the biosorption equilibrium of chromium with Fucus
vesiculosus, the maximum biosorption capacity of chromium was 14.12 mg/g and the isothermal constants were
determined. The obtained results confirmed that thebiosorption equilibrium data are excellently integrated
into the Langmuir model and also the pseudo-secondorder equation gave an excellent correlation between theexperimental and the calculated data in the biosorptionof Cr(III). Finally, it was concluded that Fucus vesiculosus
is an effective and environmentally friendly biosorbent
and a suitable candidate for the removal of Cr(III) from
aqueous solutions.
Acknowledgements
The author would like to thank Professor Mohsen Mahmoud Yousry (Directorof Central Laboratory for Environmental Quality Monitoring, National Water
Research Center, El‑Qanater El‑Khiria, Egypt) for his valuable supports duringAsaad B
﻿ MC Chemistry(2024) 18:145

the experimental work. Also the author would like to thank Dr Doaa M.
Hammad (Assistant Professor in the biological and Environmental Indicators
Department in Central Laboratory for Environmental Quality Monitoring) for
her advice and guidance.
Author contributions
A.A. wrote the main manuscript text and prepared all figures, data collection,
analysis, and interpretation of results, and reviewed the manuscript.
Funding
Open access funding provided by The Science, Technology & Innovation
Funding Authority (STDF) in cooperation with The Egyptian Knowledge Bank
(EKB). The author confirms no funding is involved.
Data availability
The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study areavailable from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Declarations
Ethics approval and consent to participate
Not applicable.
Consent for publication
Not applicable.
Competing interests
The authors declare no competing interests.
Received: 9 September 2023 Accepted: 19 July 2024

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