Heavy metal pollution has become one of the most serious problems today, and the use of microbial and plant biomass for the detoxification of industrial effluents for environmental protection and recovery of valuable metals offers a potential alternative to existing treatment technologies. In the present study, the biosorption capacity of a plant biomass was studied for different toxic metals and the removal was found to be higher for Pb, Zn and Cr among the I I metals studied (As, Se, Zn, Fe, Ni, Co, Ph, Mn, Hg, Cr and Cu). The results of the biosorption studies revealed higher Ph removal followed by Cr and Zn at lower metal concentrations, less than 250 ppm and with biomass concentrations above 2 g. The results of shake flask experiment revealed enhanced metal removal with 15 min agitation for Ph and 180 min for Zn and Cr removal. Metal removal was higher at lower pH for Cr and Zn and increased pH decreased the percentage metal removal. Lead removal was unaffected by pH changes. The presence of co-ions (As, Se, Hg, etc.) did not affect Pb removal by biomass, but on the other hand, Zn and Cr uptakes decreased. For the reuse of biomass, the used biomass was subjected to desorption studies using HNO3. The retention capacity of the biomass was almost constant after three cycles of chelation-desorption, suggesting that the lifetime cycle was sufficiently long for continuous industrial application. The suggested process can be used as an alternative to the classical technologies for effluent decontamination and would also be efficient for polishing effluents treated by other methods. The biosorption model developed was applied to a "real life system" successfully. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.