Biosorption of uranium(VI) from aqueous solution by Citrus limon peels: kinetics, equlibrium and batch studies

Abstract

Citrus limon peel (exocarp) was chemically treated and used for removal of U(VI) ions from aqueous solution in a batch system. Optimization of U(VI) sorption parameters, i.e. medium pH, adsorbent amount, contact time, initial U(VI) ions concentration and temperature on the removal performance of both native and modified peels was studied. Adsorption capacity of the modified peel was near up to 4 times higher than of unmodified. The correlation regression coefficients show that the adsorption process can be well-defined by Langmuir equation. Additionally, it conforms to the pseudo-second order kinetic and Weber–Morris diffussion models well.