JEMAT, 2019, Vol 7, No 1, 32-35 - 32 - Kinetic Analysis for the Removal of Copper Using Durvillaea antarctica Ain Aqilah Basirun 1 , Muhammad Arif Mukhriz Ros Saidon Khudri 2 , Nur Adeela Yasid 1 , Ahmad Razi Othman 2 , Wan Lutfi Wan Johari 3 , Mohd Yunus Shukor 1 and Mohd Izuan Effendi Halmi 4 * 1 Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Science Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM Serdang, Selangor, D.E, Malaysia. 2 Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Build Environment, Universit Kebangsaan Malaysia, 43600 UKM Bangi, Selangor, D.E, Malaysia. 3 Department of Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Environmental Studies, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia. 4 Department of Soil Management, Faculty of Agriculture Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM Serdang, Selangor, D.E, Malaysia *Corresponding author: Dr. Mohd Izuan Effendi Halmi, 3 Department of Soil Management, Faculty of Agriculture Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia. Email: m_izuaneffendi@upm.edu.my INTRODUCTION Copper (Cu) is abundant in the surroundings and required for the conventional growth and metabolic process of most living creatures. Irregular quantities of copper ingestion may range between quantities so little as to stimulate a dietary insufficiency to quantities excessive they can be extremely harmful. Copper is one of the first metals laboured by people some seventy to eighty centuries in the past [1]. The first recognized item of hammered copper was discovered approximately 6000 BCE. The copper alloy brass originated in Roman periods. Copper stems from the Latin cuprum, which is a corruption of cyprium, Cyprus is the source of Egyptian and Roman copper [1]. The metabolic significance of copper in animals and plants had not been thought prior to the 1920’s when illnesses as a result of copper insufficiency turned to be acknowledged. Copper insufficiency in vertebrates, for instance, is associated to anemia, gastrointestinal disorder, aortic aneurisms, bone development irregularities, and death [2]. Toxicity to copper in terrestrial higher plants is uncommon but happens on mining areas and instances where copper-rich manures or fungicides are utilized exceedingly [3]. Copper is considered the most dangerous of the heavy metals in marine and freshwater ecology, and frequently builds up and results in irreparable damage to some species at levels merely over the quantities needed for growth and reproduction [4]. On the other hand, in comparison with lower forms, mammalians and birds are relatively not affected to copper [1]. Copper pollution in the recent years has only just began to take centre stage with several reports studying the effect of copper exposure to Antarctic organisms [5,6]. In anticipation of a copper pollution in the future in the Arctic and Antarctica, HISTORY Received: 11 th March 2019 Received in revised form: 27 th of May 2019 Accepted: 4 th of June 2019 ABSTRACT Existing techniques for the treatment of pollutants include membrane separation, ion exchange, precipitation, and transformation and biosorption. Of all this technology, biosorption has several positive aspects which include low operating expenses, very efficient detoxification of toxicants at low concentrations, low amount of disposal materials and does not need nutrient requirements as in bacterial-based remediation, the latter of which is limited by the presence of heavy metals and other toxicants. The reduction of copper by Durvillaea antarctica, an alga that lives as south as the Antarctic region can be an efficient and low-cost tool for remediation of copper. In this study, the kinetics of copper biosorption is modelled according to the pseudo-first order, pseudo- second order and Elovich models. Statistical analysis based on root-mean-square error (RMSE), adjusted coefficient of determination (adjR 2 ), bias factor (BF), accuracy factor (AF) and corrected AICc (Akaike Information Criterion) showed that the pseudo-second order model is the best model. Kinetic analysis using the pseudo-second order model at 0.15 mM copper gave a value of equilibrium sorption capacity qe of 0.150 mmol g -1 (95% confidence interval from 0.149 to 0.151) and a value of the pseudo-second-order rate constant, k2 of 8.605 (95% confidence interval from 7.016 to 10.194). KEYWORDS biosorption Durvillaea antarctica kinetics copper pseudo-second order JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL MICROBIOLOGY AND TOXICOLOGY Website: http://journal.hibiscuspublisher.com/index.php/JEMAT/index JEMAT VOL 7 NO 1 2019