Biosorption of uranium(VI) from aqueous solution using calcium alginate beads

In this paper, sorption potentials of uranium ions were studied using alginate polymer beads in diluted aqueous solutions. The ability of alginate beads to adsorb uranium(VI) from aqueous solution has been studied at different optimized conditions of pH, U(VI) concentration, contact time, biomass dosage and temperature. In order to determine the adsorption characteristics, Langmuir, Freundlich, and Dubinin-Radushkevich adsorption isotherms were applied to the adsorption data. The thermodynamic parameters such as variations of enthalpy ΔH, entropy ΔS and variation of Gibbs free energy ΔG were calculated from the slope and intercept of ln Kd vs. 1/T plots. The results suggested that alginate beads could be suitable as a sorbent material for adsorption and removal of uranium ions from dilute aqueous solutions.