Adsorptive Removal of Nickel Ions by Sodium Alginate-Modified Waste Cotton Fabric
Abstract
The development of low-cost adsorbents for the simple and efficient adsorption of metal ions is challenging but of great significance for meeting the strict requirements of environmental protection. The current study focused on the development of a low-cost adsorbent material through the functionalization of waste cotton fabric with sodium alginate (SA), optimization of SA concentration for maximum adsorption of nickel ion, and study of the effects of important parameters such as contact time, pH, initial nickel concentration, and temperature on adsorption performance. The modification was performed by alkaline pre-treatment followed by immersion in different concentrations of SA (0.1- 0.9 wt%). The coating ratio was increased stepwise from 6.1% to 18.3% as the SA concentration increased. The optimum SA concentration was determined, and importantly, the SA-modified waste cotton fabric with 0.7 wt% SA exhibited a high adsorption capacity of 494 mg/g and attained equilibrium in 5 hours. The adsorption performance was pH-dependent, with maximum uptake at pH 6.0. The temperature had little influence on the adsorption efficiency in the range of 20-50°C. Considering the excellent adsorption performance of this modified waste cotton fabric, this simple and novel strategy may open a new avenue for developing sustainable, cost-effective adsorption materials to meet the growing demand for rapid, efficient metal-ion adsorption.
References
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[2]. Ahmad, A., Mubarak, N. M., Jannat, F. T., Ashfaq, T., Santulli, C., Rizwan, M., Najda, A., Bin-Jumah, M., Abdel-Daim, M. M., Hussain, S., and Ali, S. "A Critical Review on the Synthesis of Natural Sodium Alginate Based Composite Materials: An Innovative Biological Polymer for Biomedical Delivery Applications", Processes, vol. 9, no. 1, pp. 137, 2021.
[3]. Baby, R., Hussein, M. Z., Abdullah, A. H., and Zainal, Z. "Nanomaterials for the treatment of heavy metal contaminated water", Polymers, vol. 14, no. 3, pp. 583, 2022.
[4]. Bairagi, S., Banerjee, S., M Mulvihill, D., Ahmed, S., and Ali, S. W., "22 - Extraction, structural properties, and applications of sodium alginate". In Natural Gums, S. Ahmed and A. Ali (Eds.). Elsevier, 2023, pp. 599-618
[5]. Bartzas, G., Tsakiridis, P. E., and Komnitsas, K. "Nickel industry: Heavy metal (loid) s contamination-sources, environmental impacts and recent advances on waste valorization", Current Opinion in Environmental Science & Health, vol. 21, no., pp. 100253, 2021.
[6]. Bhuiyan, R., Hossain, M., Zakaria, M., Islam, M., and Zulhash Uddin, M. "Chitosan coated cotton fiber: physical and antimicrobial properties for apparel use", Journal of Polymers and the Environment, vol. 25, no. 2, pp. 334-342, 2017.
[7]. Jiang, X., Tang, C., Zhao, Z., Liao, Y., Zhao, J., Hu, J., Zhang, H., Yu, Q., Tremblay, P.-L., and Zhang, T. "Cationic Waste Cotton Fabric for the Adsorptive Colorimetric Detection of Chromium Ion Traces", ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering, vol. 11, no. 17, pp. 6610-6618, 2023.
[8]. Kruszelnicka, I., Ginter-Kramarczyk, D., Góra, W., Staszak, K., Baraniak, M., Lota, G., and Regel-Rosocka, M. "Removal of nickel (II) from industrial wastewater using selected methods: a review", Chemical and Process Engineering, vol. 43, no. 4, pp. 437-–448, 2022.
[9]. Latif, S., Imran, M., Ahmad, M. N., and Franco, M., "Biopolymer-based nanomaterials for the removal of environmental pollutants". In Advances in Chemical Pollution, Environmental Management and Protection,Elsevier, 2025, pp. 665-687
[10]. Li, Y., Mohammed, A., Li, D., and Wang, L. "Test strips based on ron(iii)-impregnated alginate/polyacrylonitrile nanofibers for naked eye screening of tetracycline", Analyst, vol. 143, no. 13, pp. 3029-3039, 2018.
[11]. Ling Felicia, W. X., Rovina, K., Supri, S., Matanjun, P., Mohd Amin, S. F., and Abdul Rahman, M. N. "Next-generation sodium alginate hydrogels for heavy metal ion removal: properties, dynamic adsorption–desorption mechanisms, and sustainable application potential", Polymer Bulletin, vol. 82, no. 16, pp. 10587-10637, 2025.
[12]. Ma, J., Liu, Y., Ali, O., Wei, Y., Zhang, S., Zhang, Y., Cai, T., Liu, C., and Luo, S. "Fast adsorption of heavy metal ions by waste cotton fabrics based double network hydrogel and influencing factors insight", Journal of hazardous materials, vol. 344, no., pp. 1034-1042, 2018.
[13]. Mohanrasu, K., Manivannan, A. C., Rengarajan, H. J. R., Kandaiah, R., Ravindran, A., Panneerselvan, L., Palanisami, T., and Sathish, C. "Eco-friendly biopolymers and composites: a sustainable development of adsorbents for the removal of pollutants from wastewater", npj Materials Sustainability, vol. 3, no. 1, pp. 13, 2025.
[14]. Niu, Y., Hu, W., Guo, M., Wang, Y., Jia, J., and Hu, Z. "Preparation of cotton-based fibrous adsorbents for the removal of heavy metal ions", Carbohydrate Polymers, vol. 225, no., pp. 115218, 2019.
[15]. Rafati Rahimzadeh, M., Rafati Rahimzadeh, M., Kazemi, S., and Moghadamnia, A. A. "Nickel; a metal with threats to human health, focusing on its intoxication mechanisms", Human & Experimental Toxicology, vol. 44, no., pp. 09603271251361197, 2025.
[16]. Rashid, R., Shafiq, I., Akhter, P., Iqbal, M. J., and Hussain, M. "A state-of-the-art review on wastewater treatment techniques: the effectiveness of adsorption method", Environmental Science and Pollution Research, vol. 28, no. 8, pp. 9050-9066, 2021.
[17]. Shi, T., Xie, Z., Zhu, Z., Shi, W., Liu, Y., and Liu, M. "Highly efficient and selective adsorption of heavy metal ions by hydrazide-modified sodium alginate", Carbohydrate Polymers, vol. 276, no., pp. 118797, 2022.
[18]. Vakili, M., Rafatullah, M., Yuan, J., Zwain, H. M., Mojiri, A., Gholami, Z., Gholami, F., Wang, W., Giwa, A. S., and Yu, Y. "Nickel ion removal from aqueous solutions through the adsorption process: A review", Reviews in Chemical Engineering, vol. 37, no. 6, pp. 755-778, 2021.
[19]. Xu, L., Lu, X., and Cheng, X. "Preparation of modified cotton cellulose in ionic liquid and its adsorption of Cu(ii) and Ni(ii) from aqueous solutions", Rsc Advances, vol. 5, no. 96, pp. 79022-79030, 2015.
[20]. Yu, X., Kang, D., Hu, Y., Tong, S., Ge, M., Cao, C., and Song, W. "One-pot synthesis of porous magnetic cellulose beads for the removal of metal ions", Rsc Advances, vol. 4, no. 59, pp. 31362-31369, 2014.
[21]. Zhang, G., Qu, R., Sun, C., Ji, C., Chen, H., Wang, C., and Niu, Y. "Adsorption for metal ions of chitosan coated cotton fiber", Journal of Applied Polymer Science, vol. 110, no. 4, pp. 2321-2327, 20
Published
2026-06-22
How to Cite
ABEDALWAFA, Mohammed Awad; ABEDELGADIR, Ezelarab; SHIBRAEN, Mahmoud HMA.
Adsorptive Removal of Nickel Ions by Sodium Alginate-Modified Waste Cotton Fabric.
Gezira Journal of Engineering and Applied Sciences, [S.l.], v. 18, n. 2, p. 13-20, june 2026.
ISSN 1858-5698. Available at: <http://journals.uofg.edu.sd/index.php/gjeas/article/view/2584>. Date accessed: 30 june 2026.
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