Selective adsorption for Ag (I) from wastewater by carbon-magnetic fly ash beads modified with polydopamine and thiourea

Abstract A magnetic adsorbent was prepared by polydopamine coating and thiourea grafting on carbon-modified discarded fly ash magnetic beads (TPCMFA). The successfully preparation of the TPCMFA was supported by SEM image, XRD, FT-IR and Raman spectroscopy. Batch adsorption experiments reveal that the adsorption of silver ions on this magnetic sorbent TPCMFA agreed with the Langmuir isotherm model, with a maximum absorbability of 94.94 mg g-1. Kinetics data revealed that the adsorption of silver ions on TPCMFA conform to a pseudo-second-order. The TPCMFA achieved remarkable selectivity for Ag (I) that was almost five times higher than that for ions of copper, zinc and nickel. After three cycles, the adsorption capacity of TPCMFA remained at 93.5% of the adsorption capacity of the initial material. These results show that this new magnetic adsorbent prepared from discarded fly ash magnetic beads has promising commercial prospects.