Sorption behavior of Cs(I), Co(II), and Ni(II) from aqueous solutions using carboxymethyl cellulose/clay sorbent

Abstract

The sorption of some essential ions by economical and effective methods is crucial in development and technology. The sorption of Cs(I), Co(II), and Ni(II) from aqueous solutions using carboxymethyl cellulose/clay (CMC/clay) sorbent synthesized by precipitation method was studied by batch technique. Different analytical tools like SEM, XRD, FTIR, DTA, and TGA analysis were utilized to find morphology, structure, functional groups, and thermal analysis for CMC/clay. The adsorption process was performed by changing different adsorption factors such as pH, shaking time, initial Cs(I), Co(II), and Ni(II) concentrations, and temperature to get maximum removal of the studied cations. The elements removal process followed pseudo-second-order with the values of regression factor (R²) found as 0.988, 0.995, and 0.996 for Cs(I), Co(II), and Ni(II), respectively. The equilibrium data fitted well to the Langmuir isotherm. The monolayer capacity values were found to be 25.9, 23.7, and 18.5 mg/g for Cs(I), Co(II), and Ni(II), respectively. The thermodynamic functions reflect an endothermic and spontaneous sorption process. Desorption of Cs(I), Co(II), and Ni(II) from the loaded CMC/clay was done using different eluents, and the best eluant was 0.5M of HCl. The data revealed that CMC/clay sorbent is suitable for recovering Cs(I), Co(II), and Ni(II) from aqueous solutions. The real sample application proved that CMC/clay is an excellent sorbent for the capture of Ni(II) from industrial wastewater.