Functionalization of environmental-friendly biosorbent for high-performance removal of uranium from waste solution

The most secure method for the ecosystem is the chemical disposal of radioactive waste through adsorption, as uranium is a radioactive and hazardous environmental material that requires safe disposal. Herein, a new, highly efficient, cheap sorbent to remove it. A functionalized environmental-friendly biosorbent (moringa seed waste) was synthesized via a wet processing technique. Three new biosorbents (ACMOSW@Ox, ACMOSW@Ci, and ACMOSW@TBA) were yielded through reaction of moringa seed waste with oxalic, citric, and tributylamine, respectively. The synthesized three biosorbents were distinguished utilizing different techniques. The batch adsorption experiments shown that the three biosorbents had a strong ability to remove U (VI) in the following order: ACMOSW@Ox > ACMOSW@Ci > ACMOSW@TBA. The kinetics and isotherm of adsorption were accurately represented by the Langmuir and pseudo-second-order models, respectively. The findings indicate that the application of 0.1 g of ACMOSW@Ox under experimental conditions of pH 3, a temperature of 298 K, an initial U(VI) concentration of 100 mg/L, and a mixing duration of 90 minutes resulted in a notable removal efficiency of 98%. Reusing the sorbent for at least five or six cycles results in little degradation of its effectiveness. FTIR, ESEM-EDX, XRD, XPS, particle size, and zeta potential techniques were used to confirm uranium uptake by biosorbent. We also tested the produced biosorbent to see whether it could remove U (VI) from wastewater. In conclusion, the functionalized moringa seed waste was proven efficient, recyclable, and excellent as an alternative environmental-friendly adsorbent capable of uranium removal from contaminated water.