Acrylamide/ethyl cellulose Schiff base hydrogel for uranium capture from aqueous solutions using response surface...

Area of Science:

• Environmental Chemistry
• Materials Science
• Adsorption Science

Background:

• Uranium contamination poses significant environmental and health risks.
• Effective and selective adsorbents are crucial for uranium remediation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To synthesize and characterize a novel acrylamide Schiff base hydrogel for uranium removal.
• To evaluate the hydrogel's adsorption performance and optimize removal conditions.

Main Methods:

• Hydrogel synthesis and characterization.
• Batch adsorption experiments to study pH, contact time, concentration, dosage, and temperature effects.
• Adsorption isotherm, kinetic, and thermodynamic analyses.
• Central Composite Design (CCD) with Response Surface Methodology (RSM) for optimization.

Main Results:

• Achieved 99.92% U(VI) removal efficiency under optimized conditions.
• Maximum adsorption capacity of 159.23 mg/g, fitting Langmuir model and pseudo-second-order kinetics.
• Demonstrated excellent selectivity, interference resistance, and spontaneous, exothermic adsorption process.

Conclusions:

• The synthesized hydrogel is a highly efficient and selective adsorbent for uranium removal.
• The study provides a predictive model for optimizing uranium adsorption using RSM.
• The hydrogel shows practical applicability for remediating real contaminated water samples.