Water scarcity in Egypt leads to using all water resources, including reusing treated wastewater. The challenge facing us due to the usage of this resource is its contaminant loads of potentially toxic elements PTEs. One of the used technologies for removing these PTEs is sorption using sustainable adsorbent material, like cellulosic derived materials. Recently, sustainable sources of sorbent materials have attracted the consideration of prospective sorbents for the treat contaminated water. Microcrystalline cellulose is one of these materials; especially it can be prepared from agricultural wastes.
In this study, microcrystalline cellulose prepared from rice straw with an eco-friendly method and tested for Pb, Cd, and Cu removal. Factors affecting metal ions removal were also investigated.
Obtained results showed that the removal efficiency of the PTEs was 94, 72, and 89% for Pb, Cd, and Cu, respectively at 10 mg MCC L-1. Removal of Cd and Cu decreased to 200 mg L-1, however, for Pb the removal efficiency was near 90% till 150 mg L-1. In summary, the prepared MCC were shown as promising adsorbents can assist PTEs from contaminated wastewater.