Kinetic modeling and isotherm approach for biosorptive removal of hexavalent chromium using heat inactivated fungal biomass

Two highly Cr (VI) resistant fungal strains, CSF-1 and CSF-2, were isolated and identified as Cladosporium sp. and Penicillium sp., respectively, using 18S rRNA gene sequencing. At optimized growth conditions, the dead biomass of Cladosporium sp. and Penicillium sp. has removed more than 99% of the supplemented Cr(VI). The kinetic study outcomes evidenced that the present fungal Cr(VI) biosorption is best fitting with the pseudo-first-order model with higher R-2 values (i.e., 0.70-0.95) than that of the pseudo-second-order kinetic model (R-2 = 0.02-0.73). After analyzing the R-2 values, it was observed that the Langmuir and Freundlich isotherm models best fit the Cr(VI) biosorption employing fungal biomass.