Environmental metal pollution is a serious public problem, and it has become an issue leading to research in the effluent remediation area. Techniques involving biosorption processes have been found to be promising due to the low cost of nonliving biomaterials, which have the potential to adsorb metal ions from wastewaters. One of the most promising types of biomasses to be used as biosorbents is the seaweed biomass, particularly from brown algae. The biosorption capability of the seaweed biomass relies on their cell wall chemical composition, mainly composed of alginates and fucoidans, molecules with a high presence of functional groups that interact with metal ions. This book chapter focuses on the use of seaweed biomass for metal biosorption and the chemical basis underlying the process. The current state of the commercial status of biosorption technology based on seaweed biomass is presented. Examples of complementary uses of the algae biomass other than industrial wastewater cleaning processes are presented, and the potential reuse of the biomass after the biosorption focused on biofuel production is discussed.
Part of the book: Biomass Volume Estimation and Valorization for Energy