Mycosorption: a sustainable approach for removing heavy metals from simulated polluted water in non-competitive and competitive systems

Mycosorption is a promising alternative for removing heavy metal pollutants present at dilute concentrations in various contaminated water. Here, we describe an exciting solution for metal removal from competitive and non-competitive simulated aqueous systems by various mycosorbents. Herein, 41 fungi were selected based on their fast growth rate and high biomass yield to produce effective mycosorbents. These dried fungal biomasses were tested against five different single metals with maximum metal concentration at 25 mg/L and 50 mg of biomass. AD1 to AD7 showed maximum metal sorption proficiencies in the 40–90% range within 30 min of contact time in a non-competitive system. Equilibrium constant (Qeq) values fall in the 10.75 to 15.0 mg/g range for all these mycosorbents. Scarce studies have investigated competitive sorption. This approach sheds light on competitive metal sorption from two different dilute concentrations regardless of metal toxicity and tolerance capacity of mycosorbents. Around 60–96% Cr and Pb biosorption was achieved at an initial metal concentration of 5 mg/L and between 15 and 42% Cd, Ni and Cu. In the case of 25 mg/L of initial metal concentration, 70 to 99% of Pb and Cr, 21–54% Cd, Ni and Cu biosorption was obtained in 2 h of contact time. The maximum sorption capacities ranged from 0.4 to 5.0 mg/g in 5 mg/L and 5.5 to 24.7 mg/g in 25 mg/L metal concentrations in competitive sorption. This result presents a novel approach to applying dried mycosorbents to remove five metals at a time present in a dilute concentration in wastewater where synthetic sorbents are ineffective. Graphical abstract