Novel aminothiazole grafted cellulose composite for efficient removal of Hg(II) from wastewater in single and multicomponent systems

Abstract

The pollution of mercury is a widespread and growing problem, as it poses significant environmental and health issues. Investigating adsorbents with high adsorption capacity is an urgent need to solve this issue. The current investigation introduces a novel aminothiazole Schiff base grafted cellulose (DAC@AHTT) adsorbent for Hg(II) removal from various water samples. The DAC@AHTT adsorbent was synthesized by the modification of dialdehyde cellulose (DAC) with 4-amino-5-hydrazinyl-4 H-1,2,4-triazole-3-thiol (AHTT) Schiff base. Moreover, the prepared DAC@AHTT adsorbent was characterized by physical, chemical, and morphological techniques, and its performance was systematically obtained. The maximum adsorption capacity of 495.7 mg.g− 1 was achieved at the optimum conditions of pH (6–8), a dose of 0.002 g, and 240 min. Hg(II) adsorption follows pseudo-2nd -order kinetics and Langmuir isotherm models, revealing the spontaneous, exothermic, and monolayer chemisorption. The DAC@AHTT material was successively employed for the Hg(II) removal from real water samples, with a recovery (Re, %) exceeding 98%. The DAC@AHTT adsorbent has a good recycling efficiency of 85% after three adsorption-desorption cycles. The adsorption mechanism of Hg(II) onto DAC@AHTT adsorbent has been elucidated, showing that N and S atoms are the main binding sites. The adsorbent was successfully employed for the adsorption of Hg(II), Ni(II), Pb(II), and Cu(II) in multicomponent systems by applying the Plackett-Burman design of experiments (PBD). These findings suggest that DAC@AHTT is a promising, efficient, and sustainable adsorbent for water treatment applications.