With advancement of technologies in most of the sectors, the market requirement for the rare earth elements (REEs) increasing at a rapid rate. Hence, it is vital to recover REEs from wastewater. Thus, in the present study, biosorptive uptake of praseodymium (Pr(III)) and thulium (Tm(III)) ions from mono and binary solutions using polysulfone-immobilized Turbinaria conoides (PITC) were examined for the first time The sorption of Pr(III) and Tm(III) ions were performed in batch and column biosorption systems. The biosorptional uptakes of PITC for Pr(III) and Tm(III) in mono solution were found as 1.14 and 1.23 mmol/g, respectively. The equilibrium biosorption data of the mono system were examined through the Langmuir and Freundlich isotherms, whereas data of binary biosorption experiments were checked with Sheindorf–Rebhun–Sheintuch and extended Langmuir isotherm model. The desorption efficiency of PITC in batch system showed recovery of Pr(III) and Tm(III) more than 95.5% up to 5 cycles. Continuous biosorption models like the Thomas, Yoon–Nelson and modified dose–response were employed to understand continuous biosorption behavior, and model constants were determined. The column desorption efficiency were observed as 98.9% (Pm(III)) and 99.5% (Tm(III)). Good biosorption capacity, desorption and reuse potential of PITC illustrated the environmental friendliness and scalable features.