Adsorption properties and mechanism of copper ferrocyanide/vermiculite composite sodium alginate microspheres on U(VI) in aqueous solution

In this study, novel composite hydrogel microspheres (CuFC-SAVT) were synthesized by incorporating copper ferrocyanide (CuFC), pretreated vermiculite (P-VT), and sodium alginate (SA). The composite microspheres demonstrated superior U(VI) removal efficiency of 90.8% at pH 4.0 and 298.15 K, significantly outperforming the 64.7% achieved by CuFC alone. Kinetic and isotherm studies revealed that the U(VI) adsorption by CuFC-SAVT followed the pseudo-second-order kinetic model and Freundlich isotherm model. The CuFC-SAVT microspheres exhibited multiple advantages, including excellent adsorption performance, facile separation from solution, and environmental friendliness. These findings suggest that CuFC-SAVT holds promising potential for practical applications in uranium-containing wastewater treatment.