Synthesis of magnetic chitosan biopolymeric spheres and their adsorption performances for PFOA and PFOS from aqueous environment

Due to numerous applications and excellent environmental stability, long-chain perfluorinated chemicals (PFCs) are ubiquitous in water across the world and adversely affect the living organisms. Thus, this study focused on the mitigation of the most frequently used long-chain PFCs namely perfluorooctanoate (PFOA) and perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) from water using reduced graphene oxide modified zinc ferrite immobilized chitosan beads (rGO-ZF@CB) as an adsorbent. The results from the adsorption isotherm and kinetic studies revealed that the adsorption data fitted well to the Langmuir and the pseudo-second-order models. According to the Langmuir isotherm, the rGO-ZF@CB possessed the maximum adsorption capacity of 16.07 mg/g for PFOA and 21.64 mg/g for PFOS. Both the electrostatic attractions and hydrophobic interactions have driven the removal of PFOA and PFOS by prepared rGO-ZF@CB. Eventually, the rGO-ZF@CB could be considered as an efficient adsorbent for the effective removal of PFOA and PFOS molecules from the aqueous environment.

Automated summary

The study focused on mitigating the presence of PFOA and PFOS in water using a modified adsorbent, where Langmuir isotherm analysis revealed maximum adsorption capacities of 16.07 mg/g for PFOA and 21.64 mg/g for PFOS. The removal of PFOA and PFOS was driven by both electrostatic attractions and hydrophobic interactions, highlighting the potential efficiency of rGO-ZF@CB as an adsorbent for environmental remediation.