Studies on sorption, desorption, regeneration and reuse of sugar-beet pectin gels for heavy metal removal

This work reports the effectiveness of sugar-beet pectin xerogels for the removal of heavy metals (cadmium, lead and copper) after multiple batch sorption–desorption cycles, with and without a gels regeneration step. Metals were recovered from xerogel beads without destroying their sorption capability and the beads were successfully reused (nine cycles) without significant loss in both biosorption capacity and biosorbent mass. Metals uptake levelled off or increased after using a 1 M CaCl2 regeneration step after each desorption. Calcium, as a regenerating agent, increased the stability and reusability of the gels repairing the damage caused by the acid and removing the excess protons after each elution providing new binding sites. Because of their excellent reusability, pectin xerogels are suitable for metal remediation technologies.