Adsorption of uranium from aqueous solution by mesoporous SBA-15 with various morphologies

SBA-15 with various morphologies was prepared and employed to adsorb uranium from aqueous solution. The effect of morphology of SBA-15 on the adsorption performance of uranium was investigated. Furthermore, variables of the adsorption experiments (initial concentration, pH of initial solution and contact time) were investigated. The result of kinetic experiments showed that uranium adsorption followed pseudo-second-order kinetics model and the isothermal data agreed with the Langmuir model. It was found that the platelet-like morphology SBA-15 exhibits very rapid (<10 min to reach equilibrium) and high capacity (up to 401 mg g−1) adsorption of uranium.