Effluent from nuclear power plants, rocks, and minerals
contains
hazardous radionuclides that adversely affect human health and seriously
threaten the environment. To address this issue, simple, economic,
and sustainable magnetite nanoparticle loaded sodium alginate copper
metal–organic framework composite beads (MNPs-SA@Cu MOF composite
beads) have been designed, and their performance has been evaluated
under varying conditions of pH, time, adsorbent dose, and initial
concentration and have been studied by batch adsorption studies for
optimizing the adsorption conditions. In this work, MNPs-SA@Cu MOF
composite beads have been prepared in situ for the adsorptive removal
of uranium [U(VI)] and thorium [Th(IV)] ions from an aqueous solution.
The synthesized MNPs-SA@Cu MOF composite beads were characterized
by model analytical techniques like Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy,
X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, field emission scanning electron
microscopy, Brunauer–Emmett–Teller, and thermal gravimetric
analysis. Here, 6 mg of adsorbent with 10 mL of 50 mg/L uranium and
thorium ion solution at pH 5 was capable of removing the U(VI) and
Th(IV) ions with 99.9 and 97.7% removal efficiencies, respectively.
The obtained results showed that the adsorption behavior of the adsorbent
for U(VI) and Th(IV) follows pseudo-second-order kinetics, and Langmuir
isotherm fitted well with a maximum adsorption capacity of 454.54
and 434.78 mg/g, respectively. The adsorption mechanism indicated
that electrostatic interaction and hydrogen bonding are the main driving
forces for removing the U(VI) and Th(IV) ions. It can be reused for
up to 10 adsorption–desorption cycles with minimal loss of
removal efficiency. The easy synthesis method of MNPs-SA@Cu MOF composite
beads and the high removal efficiency of U(VI) and Th(IV) ions reveal
that they can potentially treat radionuclide waste effectively.