Resource utilization of wastepaper and bentonite: Cu(II) removal in the aqueous environment

Contamination of heavy metals has always been a pressing concern. The dry-wet alternately treated carboxymethylcellulose bentonite (DW-CB) was successfully prepared by intercalating bentonite (BT) with carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) obtained by solvent processes using enzymatically digested wastepaper as cellulosic raw material, and the adsorption capacity of Cu²⁺ on DW-CB in aqueous solution was investigated. A 98.18 ± 2.31 % removal efficiency was achieved by 4 g/L of DW-CB after 8 h in a solution containing 100 mg/L of Cu²⁺, which were 4.1 times and 1.5 times of that of BT and adsorbent prepared without alternating dry-wet process, respectively. The introduction of –COOH groups during the preparation of DW-CB enhanced the electrostatic interaction between DW-CB and Cu²⁺, which was the main driving force for Cu²⁺ removal. The pseudo-first-order kinetic model and Langmuir model better described the adsorption process and adsorption capacity of Cu²⁺ on DW-CB. DW-CB still showed high removal of Cu²⁺ (19.61 ± 0.99 mg/g) in the presence of multiple metal ions, while exhibiting the potential for removal of Zn²⁺, Mg²⁺ and K⁺, especially Mg²⁺ (22.69 ± 1.48 mg/g). However, the interactions of organics with Cu²⁺ severely affected the removal of Cu²⁺ by DW-CB (removal efficiency: 17.90 ± 4.17 % - 95.33 ± 0.27 %). In this study, an adsorbent with high targeted adsorption of Cu²⁺ was prepared by utilizing wastepaper and BT, which broadened the way of wastepaper resource utilization and had good economic and social benefits.