Highly efficient adsorptive membrane for heavy metal removal based on Ulva fasciata biomass

Abstract

New composite adsorptive membranes were prepared from non-living Ulva fasciata (U), marine algae and cellulose acetate (CA) as polymer matrix to develop CA-U composite membranes with different ratios using the phase inversion technique. These CA-U membranes were used for cadmium (Cd 2+ ) and zinc (Zn 2+ ) ion removal from aqueous media. The prepared membranes were characterized via different instrumental techniques as ATR-FTIR, SEM and EDX in addition to swelling and porosity measurements. Afterwards, they were optimized for Cd 2+ and Zn 2+ removal through one factor at a time (OFAT) trials followed by full factorial design. The morphology and porosity measurements were highly affected by the addition of Ulva fasciata biosorbent and showed a large increase of the size and density of pores of the CA-U membrane. Maximum adsorption capacities (q max ) of 95.2 and 91.7 mg/g were obtained for Cd 2+ and Zn 2+ ions, respectively. Results established that all isotherm models attained R 2 more than 0.9, where the Langmuir isotherm achieved the highest one with R 2 0.9993 for Cd 2+ and 0.9965 for Zn 2+ , and the adsorption process belongs to the pseudo-1st-order kinetic model. The CA-U membrane displayed a higher affinity for Cd 2+ and Zn 2+ ion removal by three to four times than the blank CA membrane. Furthermore, 3R processes (removal, recovery and re-use) were applied and indicated the suitability of this system in heavy metal removal with high efficiency.

Functionalized PVA film with good adsorption capacity for anionic dye

“…[5,7,8] Because of the drawbacks of most of these methods, namely, high cost of operation, residual waste generation, limited processing capacity, and complicated procedure, their uses have become limited. [2,9,10] Comparatively, it has been found that the adsorption process is one of the best methods used for water treatment. This is because this method is distinguished by its simple design, cost-effectiveness, easy operation and handling, good efficiency, and the availability of a wide range of adsorbent materials.…”

Cleaner technologies to combat heavy metal toxicity

“…The combination of algae Fucus vesiculosus with biosorbents such as calcium alginate polyethylenimine showed higher selectivity for Pb and Cu over Cd, Zn, and Ni (Demey et al, 2018). Composites of nonliving Ulva fasciata (U) with cellulose acetate-based polymeric membranes were found to be effective for Cd 2+ and Zn 2+ from aqueous solutions (Abdelhamid et al, 2021). The high specificity and doubling in the uptake of Cu from even aqueous solutions was achieved by the use of magnetized derivatives of biochar of waste macroalgae kelp, with magnetization aiding an additional advantage of easy separation of heavy metals (Son et al, 2018).…”

Novel Composite Films Based on Acrylic Fibers Waste/Nano-chitosan for Congo Red Adsorption

“…Biopolymers as chitosane and nanochitosane and their composites were used as a prominent adsorbent for heavy metals and CR removal [22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30]. Different nanomaterials and nanocomposites have been used in a variety of science applications such as biomedical and environmental, especially as dye's adsorbants [31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40].…”