Simultaneous removal of cationic, anionic and organic pollutants in highly acidic water using magnetic nanocomposite alginate beads

Novel magnetic nanocomposite alginate beads are fabricated for the simultaneous removal of cationic, anionic and organic pollutants in highly acidic water. Copper, phosphate and toluene are used as representative cationic, anionic and organic pollutants respectively. The alginate beads were impregnated with a nanocomposite material composed of zeolites, activated carbon, layered double hydroxides and magnetic nanoparticles bound together by xanthan gum. A 3:4:1 aspect ratio (alginate: nanocomposite: xanthan gum) is used for fabrication of the beads. The beads show removal percentage for phosphate at 97.9%, copper at 81.8% and toluene at 43.4% and adsorption capacities of 60.24 mg g–1, 120.77 mg g–1 and 25.52 mg g–1 respectively. Isothermal studies show that the Langmuir isotherm model is the governing equation for sorption. Pseudo-second-order model is the governing equation for the kinetics of sorption. The sorption process is also spontaneous and exothermic. This sorbent shows great potential to be used for simultaneous removal of cationic, anionic and organic pollutants removal in water.