RESUMO
For human health and safety, it is of great importance to develop innovative materials with a vast capacity for powerful removal of radioactive ions from aqueous solutions. Prussian blue functionalized sugarcane bagasse (PB-SCB) was successfully prepared for the efficient elimination of radioactive cesium (137Cs) using a nontoxic, environmentally friendly, and costless method. The prepared renewable material was characterized using different techniques to emphasize morphology, functional groups, crystal structure, and the adsorption process. The adsorption of Cs(I) was better fitted to the pseudo-second-order model than pseudo-first-order model which revealed a chemical adsorption mechanism. The experimental isotherm results were best illustrated by the Freundlich model (R2 = 0.98). Besides, the obtained values for the thermodynamic parameters indicating that the adsorption process was endothermic and spontaneous in nature. In addition to demonstrating high adsorption capacity for Cs ion removal (56.7 mg/g at 30 °C), PB-SCB might consider being an efficient and cost-effective adsorbent for the decontamination of cesium, where an estimated cost analysis revealed that the expenditure for the removal of 1000 mg/L cesium from alkaline radioactive wastewater is likely to be US$0.12. Graphical abstract.