Acta Scientiarum Polonorum Technologia Alimentaria

Abstract Investigations were carried out into the capacity of waste brewery yeast Saccharomyces uvarum for biosorption of magnesium originated from a solution of dehydrated salt of magnesium chloride, depending on the number of cells and diferent pH of the suspension during 6 hours. The concentration of MgCl₂•6H₂O in the solution was adjusted so as to maintain a stable content of magnesium as expressed per pure element, i.e. 1.25 g/dm³ of solution. In the first stage, the number of cells was differentiated in yeast slurry through either condensation or dilution. In the second stage, pH of yeast suspension was differentiated (pH 5.5, 6.0 and 7.0) at a constant number of cells. The solutions examined were kept under anaerobic and aerobic conditions. Determination of magnesium content of yeast biomass was carried out with the method of atomic adsorption spectroscopy after 15 min, 1 h, 2 h, 4 h and 6 h of experiments. The highest content of magnesium (13.76 mg/g d.m.) was obtained at the lowest number of cells in the solution, i.e. 3.5 × 10⁸ cells/cm³ under aerobic conditions. An increase in solution pH facilitated biosorption of magnesium by the yeast. At pH 7.0, after 6 hours of the experiment, the yeasts contained 15.19 mg Mg/g d.m. when kept under anaerobic conditions and 17.22 mg Mg/g d.m. when kept under aerobic conditions.