Synthesis of Magnetic Microspheres with Sodium Alginate and Activated Carbon for Removal of Methylene Blue

Materials (Basel). 2017 Jan 20;10(1):84. doi: 10.3390/ma10010084.

Abstract

Based on the adsorption performance of composite microspheres with activated carbon (AC) and sodium alginate (SA), as well as the magnetic property of Fe₃O₄, we designed and explored an efficient strategy to prepare a unique, multifunctional Fe₃O₄/AC/SA composite absorbent (MSA-AC) that extracted dye from aqueous solution. The composite exhibited the following advantages: rapid and simple to prepare, environmentally friendly process, low-cost, recyclability, and multi-functionality. The physicochemical properties of the prepared magnetic microspheres were measured, and methylene blue (MB) was selected to investigate the performance of the magnetic absorbent. The results showed a maximum adsorption capacity of 222.3 mg/g for MB. Adsorption studies revealed that the data of adsorption isotherms and kinetics fit the pseudo-second-order kinetic model and Langmuir isotherm model.

Keywords: adsorption properties; magnetic microsphere; methylene blue.