Consecutive high-performance removal of Cu2+ metal ions and Deltamethrin using multifunctional pyrolysis cuttlebone/cotton fabric nanocomposite.

ABSTRACT

A simple technique was developed for the modification of cotton materials that is inexpensive, environmentally friendly, and very effective. Waste Cotton fabrics (WCFs) are loaded with propolis extract (PE) for Cu2+ removal. Then, Cu2+ underwent a pyrolysis process with modified cuttlebone (CB) at 900 °C for 5 h. The surface of the prepared materials was characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy with energy-dispersive X-ray (SEM-EDX), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), BET, particle sizes, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and zeta potential analysis. The Cu2+ metal ions from an aqueous solution were removed using WCFs/PE, and DLM was subsequently removed using pyro WCFs/PE/Cu/CB. The as-prepared NPs exhibited the face-centered cubic structure of WCFs/PE/Cu/CB with crystallite sizes ranging from 386.70 to 653.10 nm. FTIR spectra revealed that CB was present on the surface of the resulting WCFs/PE/Cu. SEM revealed the dispersion of a uniformly flower-like morphology over a large area. Sorption studies were performed based on parameters that included pH, dose, contact time, and initial concentration. The adsorption isotherm and the kinetic studies of the DLM adsorption process were applied at a pH of 5.0 and a temperature of 25 °C using several isotherms and kinetic models. The results revealed qmax (20.51 mg/g) with R2 = 0.97, the Langmuir isotherm that best matches the experimental data. Hence, the Langmuir isotherm suggests that it is the model that best describes sorption on homogenous surfaces or surface-supporting sites with various affinities. The correlation coefficient R2, χ2, adjusted correlation coefficient, and error functions like root mean square (RMSE), normalized root mean square error (NRMES), and mean absolute error (MAE) were used to evaluate the best-fit models to the experimental adsorption data. Moreover, cost estimation for the prepared adsorbent WCFs/PE/Cu showed that it costs approximately 3 USD/g, which is a cheap adsorbent compared to other similar adsorbents reported in the literature. The examined WCFs/PE have significant applicability potential for Cu2+-laden wastewater treatment due to their superior Cu2+ metal ions adsorption capability and reusability. The cytotoxicity and safety study showed that at higher concentrations, it resulted in much less cell viability. Additionally, the removal efficiency of Cu2+ metal ions from synthetic, realistic industrial wastewater using WCFs/PE reached up to 96.29 %, demonstrating good adsorption capability. Thus, there is a huge possibility of accomplishing this and performing well. This study paves the way for the reuse and valorization of selected adsorbents following circular economy principles. Two green metrics were applied, the Analytical Eco-scale and the Analytical GREEnness Calculator (AGREE).