Controllable preparation of FeOOH/CuO@WBC composite based on water bamboo cellulose applied for enhanced arsenic removal

Water bamboo shell is one of the agricultural wastes and its cellulose can be used to produce source of bioresource. In this work, a composite (FeOOH/CuO@WBC) based on water bamboo cellulose (WBC) was controllable synthesized and employed for the removal of arsenic(III) from aqueous solution. The tests of SEM, XRD, FT-IR and XPS were used to characterize the materials, and the results showed that arsenic was successfully adsorbed by the prepared FeOOH/CuO@WBC. Additionally, the influence of different factors on the adsorption capacity was studied. It was found that when the pH was adjusted to about 3.5, the maximum adsorption capacity was 76.1 mg/g at 150 mg/L initial concentration. In order to further explore the adsorption mechanism, the adsorption isotherms and kinetic were studied, and the correlation coefficient (R-2) value after fitting revealed that the adsorption of arsenic by FeOOH/CuO@WBC is a combination of physical and chemical reactions. The comparison with other adsorbents and the results of recycling experiments declared that the synthetic FeOOH/CuO@WBC can effectively remove arsenic from aqueous solution based on the idea of "treating waste with waste", and has the advantages of environmental friendliness, economy and recyclability. (C) 2020 Institution of Chemical Engineers. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.