Efficient and sustainable extraction of uranium from aquatic solution using biowaste-derived active carbon

Ashfaq Ahmad; Salah Ud-Din Khan; Rawaiz Khan; Nils Haneklaus

doi:10.3389/fchem.2023.1327212

Efficient and sustainable extraction of uranium from aquatic solution using biowaste-derived active carbon

Front Chem. 2023 Dec 20:11:1327212. doi: 10.3389/fchem.2023.1327212. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Ashfaq Ahmad¹, Salah Ud-Din Khan², Rawaiz Khan³, Nils Haneklaus⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Chemistry, College of Science, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
² Sustainable Energy Technologies Center, College of Engineering, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
³ Engineer Abdullah Bugshan Research Chair for Dental and Oral Rehabilitation, College of Dentistry, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
⁴ Td-Lab Sustainable Mineral Resources, Universität für Weiterbildung Krems Krems an der Donau, Austria.

Abstract

Efficient and cost-effective biosorbents derived from biowaste are highly demanding to handle various environmental challenges, and demonstrate the remarkable synergy between sustainability and innovation. In this study, the extraction of uranium U(VI) was investigated on biowaste activated carbon (BAC) obtained by chemical activation (phosphoric acid) using Albizia Lebbeck pods as biowaste. The biowaste powder (BP), biowaste charcoal (BC) and BAC were evaluated by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) with nitrogen adsorption for thermal properties, chemical structures, porosity and surface area, respectively. The pH_PZC for acidic or basic nature of the surface and X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis were performed for BAC. The morphological and elemental analysis were performed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive X-ray (EDX). The extraction of uranium U(VI) ions from aqueous solutions using BAC as sorbent was investigated by using different variables such as pH, contact time, initial uranium U(VI) concentration and BAC dose. The highest adsorption (90.60% was achieved at 0.5 g BAC dose, 2 h contact time, pH 6, 10 ppm initial U(VI) concentration and with 200 rpm shaking speeds. The production of this efficient adsorbent from biowaste could be a potential step forward in adsorption of uranium to meet the high demand of uranium for nuclear energy applications.

Keywords: activated carbon; biowaste; chemical activation; extraction; uranium.

Grants and funding

The author(s) declare financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. The authors received funding from Agency for Research and Innovation in the Ministry of Education through Institutional funding program for research and innovation, Deanship of Scientific research, King Saud University with Grant No IFKSUDR_E158.