Uranium (as a hazardous and radioactive element) removal from wastewater requires reliable technology and proper functional materials. Carbon fiber species that are produced from agricultural solid waste can be a proper type of low-cost adsorbents for wide uses in wastewater treatment. In this work, two carbon fiber species labeled CF-RH and CF-SCB were synthesized from two different agricultural wastes, namely, rice husk and sugarcane bagasse respectively. The structural properties of carbon fiber were verified by XRD, FTIR, and Raman, spectroscopy. Both nitrogen-adsorption–desorption BET surface area and TEM were performed to figure out the textural characteristics of the presented sorbents. The charges on surfaces of the fibers were detected via zeta potential analysis. The prepared carbon fibers were applied for uranium removal from aqueous solution by adsorption technique. The acquired data display that the equilibrium time was 240 min. The results of adsorption process are nicely fitted with pseudo-second-order-kinetic and Langmuir isotherm models. The maximum sorption capacity was 21.0 and 29.0 mg/g for CF-RH and CF-SCB, respectively. Sorption thermodynamics declare that adsorption of U(VI) is an endothermic, spontaneous, and feasible process. The picked findings of this study could emphasize high reliability of the introduced adsorbents in efficient tackling of water contaminants.

Biomass-based solid residuals can be of serious hazardous environmental impacts if left for natural degradation. Thus, the proper utilization of such residuals is highly recommended. Therefore, one of solid residuals: namely, corn shell, was used in this study to synthesize carbon species (labeled as CS-C) as an adsorbent for efficient removal of heavy metal ions from aqueous solution. The structural properties and the textural characteristics of the prepared carbon species were verified. The present charges on the carbon surface were acquired via zeta potential analysis. The performance of CS-C, as adsorbent, was investigated through batch technique. Adsorption isotherm was optimally described using the Langmuir model reflecting that the removal process occurs at the homogenous surface of CS-C through a chemical reaction (surface complexation mechanism). The equilibrium state for the sorption process was reached after 4 h of interaction. The kinetic studies revealed the nice fit of heavy metal removal process to Pseudo-second-order model and the thermodynamics is matched to endothermic, spontaneous, and feasible sorption process. The displayed results could emphasize the high potentiality of CS-C to act as a remarkable sorbent for efficient tackling of water contaminants.