Bovine serum albumin modified polymer adsorptive membranes for the selective removal of As(III) from wastewater

Abstract

The selective removal of trivalent arsenic (As(III)) from solutions is crucial for ensuring the safety of reclaimed water. Adsorption is a commonly used technique for removing As(III); however, current adsorption methods exhibit poor selectivity for the removal of As(III) and primarily rely on powdered materials, which have limited regeneration performance. Herein, we developed a membranization of bovine serum albumin (BSA) materials (BSAM) that not only enables the selective removal of As(III) from wastewater but also allows for simple recovery and reuse. BSAM demonstrated selective adsorption of As(III) from wastewater and a high adsorption capacity (26.3 ± 0.4 mg/g) for As(III) in the presence of various interfering ions. An in-depth analysis of As(III) adsorption onto BSAM using multiple adsorption models demonstrated that the process adhered to a monolayer chemical adsorption mechanism. The BSA on the surface of BSAM contains sulfhydryl groups with a strong affinity for As(III), facilitating the formation of a complex through specific binding with As(III), thereby achieving the selective removal of As(III) from wastewater. In addition, BSAM exhibited excellent stability and favorable regeneration performance, with the adsorption capacity for As(III) decreasing only slightly from approximately 26.3 ± 0.4 to 23.1 ± 0.2 mg/g after multiple regeneration cycles. Our work provides a valuable reference for the selective removal of As(III) from wastewater, while the membranized adsorbent materials offer a viable solution to the recovery challenges associated with powdered adsorbent materials, thereby providing new insights for the development of efficient adsorption materials.