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. 2024 Apr 23;17(9):1942.
doi: 10.3390/ma17091942.

Adsorption of Heavy Metal Ions on Alginate-Based Magnetic Nanocomposite Adsorbent Beads

Eleonora Russo  1 , Paolo Sgarbossa  1 , Simone Gelosa  2 , Sabrina Copelli  3 , Elisabetta Sieni  4 , Marco Barozzi  3
Affiliations

Adsorption of Heavy Metal Ions on Alginate-Based Magnetic Nanocomposite Adsorbent Beads

Eleonora Russo et al. Materials (Basel). .

Abstract

Graphene oxide and its magnetic nanoparticle-based composites are a well-known tool to remove heavy metals from wastewater. Unfortunately, one of the major issues in handling such small particles consists of their difficult removal from treated wastewater (even when their magnetic properties are exploited), due to their very small diameter. One possible way to overcome this problem is to embed them in a macroscopic biopolymer matrix, such as alginate or chitosan beads. In this way, the adsorbent becomes easier to handle and can be used to build, for example, a packed column, as in a traditional industrial adsorber. In this work, the removal performances of two different embedded magnetic nanocomposite adsorbents (MNAs) are discussed. The first type of MNA is based on ferrite magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) generated by coprecipitation using iron(II/III) salts and ammonium hydroxide, while the second is based on a 2D material composed of MNP-decorated graphene oxide. Both MNAs were embedded in cross-linked alginate beads and used to treat artificial water contaminated with chromium(III), nickel(II), and copper(II) in different concentrations. The yield of removal and differences between MNAs and non-embedded magnetic nanomaterials are also discussed. From the results, it was found that the time to reach the adsorption equilibrium is higher when compared to that of the nanomaterials only, due to the lower surface/volume ratio of the beads, but the adsorption capacity is higher, due to the additional interaction with alginate.

Keywords: adsorption; graphene oxide; magnetic nanoparticles; nanoadsorbents; wastewater.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Preparation of MNAs: (i) preparation of GO nanosheets decorated with magnetic nanoparticles by coprecipitation; (ii) mixing of magnetic materials (MNP or magnetic GO) with dissolved sodium alginate; (iii) formation of the beads by cross-linking with a Ca2+ solution.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Molar distribution of copper(II) (a), nickel(II) (b), and chromium(III) (c) species in solution at 25 °C as determined by Visual MINTEQ Version 4.0. The x-axis refers to the solution number in Table 1.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Stereoscope images of the wet beads: (A) B1, 2×; (B) B2, 1×; (C) BGO, 0.67×; (D) B1, 4.5×; (E) B2, 4.5×; (F) BGO, 4.5×. The bar indicates a length of 1 mm.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Stereoscope pictures of lyophilized beads: (A) B1, 1×; (B) B2, 1×; (C) BGO 1×; (D) B1, 4.5×; (E) B2, 4.5×; (F) BGO, 4.5×. The bar indicates a length of 1 mm.
Figure 5
Figure 5
ESEM characterization of beads: (A,B) B1, (C,D) B2, (E,F) BGO.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Final concentration (a) and yield of removal (b) vs. initial concentration of copper, nickel, and chromium.
Figure 7
Figure 7
Bead load vs. initial (a) and final (b) concentration of the metal ions.
Figure 8
Figure 8
Comparison of the removal loads (a) and yields (b) between magnetic GO nanosheets and BGO for copper, nickel, and chromium.
Figure 9
Figure 9
Monomers of alginate.
Figure 10
Figure 10
Example of a structure of alginate.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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