Sodium alginate templated hydroxyapatite/calcium silicate composite adsorbents for efficient dye removal from...

In this work, natural polysaccharide product sodium alginate (SA) served as templates to prepare porous calcium silicate (CS) hydroxyapatite (HA) composite microspheres (CHCM) with high specific surface area by a new route combining ion exchange and calcination. CHCM played an important role in the fields of environmental protection with its large specific surface area, excellent adsorptive property, high mechanical strength and good regeneration performance. In order to explore its treatment capacity of wastewater, a series of eriochromeblue black R (EBBR) adsorption experiments were carried out. The equilibrium data fitted well with the Langmuir isotherm with a maximum adsorption capacity of 76.80 mg/g. Electrostatic interaction, ionic bonds and physical adsorption were responsible for the interactions between the EBBR and CHCM. Meanwhile, the CHCM maintained complete spherical and almost undamaged in the regeneration experiments, which confirmed its stability for cyclical usage. This paper demonstrates the role of natural polysaccharide product sodium alginate serving as templates to prepare useful products with potential wide applications.