ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Chem.
Sec. Green and Sustainable Chemistry
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fchem.2025.1649831
Engineered LDH-Alginate Composite Hydrogel Columns for Selective Heavy Metal Removal
Provisionally accepted
- Department of Engineering Management, Sichuan College of Architectural Technology, Chengdu, China
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To address food safety risks caused by heavy metal pollution, a composite hydrogel composed of hydrotalcite and alginic acid was synthesized via hydrothermal methods and chemically crosslinked with calcium ions. This study evaluated the composite hydrogel's adsorption capacity for Cu²⁺, Zn²⁺, Pb²⁺, Cd²⁺, and Mn²⁺ ions using Atomic Ab-sorption Spectrometry (AAS)—representative cationic pollutants frequently detected in food-related wastewater—using AAS. The exclusion of Cr³⁺ and Cr (IV) was based on their anionic speciation, incompatible with the hydrogel’s cation-targeted adsorption mechanisms. Adsorption experiments, isotherm fitting, and kinetic anal-yses revealed that the composite exhibited the highest affinity for Cu²⁺ (max capacity 325.73 mg/g), followed by Zn²⁺ and Pb²⁺ (max capacity 284.78 mg/g). The adsorption process conformed to the Langmuir isotherm and pseu-do-second-order kinetics. Compared with individual hydrotalcite and alginate hydrogels, the composite demon-strated superior adsorption performance, indicating its promising application in heavy metal remediation.
Keywords: Composite hydrogel, adsorbent, Heavy metal ions, Heavy metal removal, Solid Phase Extraction
Received: 19 Jun 2025; Accepted: 25 Jul 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Hao. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Hualai Hao, Department of Engineering Management, Sichuan College of Architectural Technology, Chengdu, China
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