Bioremediation of iron from polluted water using marine algae

El-Mex Bay receives huge of toxicants and pollutants that resulted from various anthropogenic activities and different heavy metals. These pollutants adversely affect human's health and the aquatic ecosystem. In this study, iron is selected rather than other heavy metals for bioremediation as it constitutes a large part of the Bay. This work aims to the assessment of the efficiency of six marine algal species as bio-sorbents for iron, which constitutes a large part of El-Umum drain wastewater at El-Mex Bay locality. These species are Ulva linza, Ulva fasciata (Chlorophyceae), Padina pavonia, Saragassum hornschuchii (Phaeophyceae), and Pterocladia capillacea, Corallina officinalis (Rhodophyceae). Algal nanoparticles and finely powdered algae were evaluated for adsorbing iron in aqueous solutions as a function of contact time, biomass weight, different wastewater concentrations, and pH. Analyzing function groups of the biomass was also assessed. Compared to ordinary ground algal biomass, nanoparticles of dry algal biomass (ground by ball mill) is considered an efficient economic adsorbent for iron removal that occurs at high concentration levels, either dissolved or particulate. Comparing the maximum removal efficiency, it was recorded values of 95.6, 98.8, and 97.6% for Ulva linza, Sargassum hornschuchii, and Corallina officinalis, respectively, using 0.1 g nano-biomass at pH 9.4, these values were 79.60, 96.33, and 83.41%, for the same algal species using 0.5 g ground powder biomass at the same pH.