Porous polyvinyl fluoride coated cellulose beads for efficient removal of Cd(II) from phosphoric acid

In order to enhance the removal of cadmium from phosphoric acid, it is imperative to explore novel resources that may be utilized for the development of highly effective and environmentally sustainable adsorbents. Cellulose beads are composed of naturally occurring polysaccharide fibers and find extensive utilization across several industrial sectors and applications. Within this framework, this research paper presents a green and simple method for producing porous cellulose beads using date palm fibers as the preferred raw material. The innovation lies in immersing the obtained cellulose beads in a Polyvinyl fluoride (PVDF)/N,N-dimethylformamide (DMF) suspension as a coating polymer with different concentrations (2.5, 5, 10 %) to maintain their stability in an acidic environment. The surface of cellulose/PVDF beads were subjected to multiple characterizations like Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), size distribution then pH stability confirming that the coating has been perfectly achieved and conserved well the shape of the beads. The coated cellulose/PVDF-2.5 % underwent evaluation by the process of batch adsorption experiments while different parameters were varied including contact time (5, 10, 20, 30, 60, 90 min), temperature (25, 35, 45 and 55 °C), and adsorbent mass (20, 40, 60, 80 and 100 mg). The obtained ICP data showed that the adsorption rate of Cd (II) from phosphoric acid medium decreased while increasing both temperature from 25 to 55 °C and contact time from 5 to 90 min while adding more adsorbent dosage from 20 to 100 mg enhanced the removal percentage. The cellulose/PVDF-2.5 % was more effective with an adsorption capacity equal to 3.4998 mg/g at optimal conditions including 25 °C as the temperature after 5 min as contact time and by adding a mass 100 mg of the biosorbent while the pH = 2 of the solution is maintained the same. The examined material's adsorption processes proved to be exothermic and non-spontaneous, and it proved that the pseudo-second-order model provided the best match for the cellulose/PVDF-2.5 % beads kinetics data. Furthermore, the cellulose beads exhibited exceptional reusability for up to four repeated cycles without undergoing desorption. The present study offers a viable approach for producing environmentally sustainable biomass-derived adsorbents. Additionally, the study validates the potential of cellulose/PVDF beads as an intriguing material for phosphoric acid decadmiation.