Magnetic chitosan microspheres: An efficient and recyclable adsorbent for the removal of iodide from simulated nuclear wastewater

Abstract The efficient and recyclable magnetic chitosan microspheres (MCMs) were successfully synthesized to remove iodide from nuclear wastewater and characterized through XRD, FTIR, SEM, EDS, VSM, TGA and XPS. The characterization results indicated that the MCMs exhibited smooth spherical morphology and good magnetic properties. The removal potential of MCMs was investigated for iodide (I–) anions at different conditions. From pH 3 to pH 9, MCMs performed the high I− removal efficiency (>90%). The maximum I− removal capacity of MCMs was up to 0.8087 mmol g−1 at 298K, well-fitting with the pseudo-second-order and Sips models. Furthermore, the I– removal efficiency of MCMs still maintained more than 91% after five adsorption-desorption cycles, performing good regeneration and reusability. This study is expected to prompt the MCMs to become an efficient and recyclable biosorbent for iodide removal from nuclear wastewater.