Adsorption of Uranium on Microorganism-derived Hydrothermal Carbon Manganese Composite

Microorganism-derived hydrothermal carbon manganese composite (MHTC) was synthesized by one step method with industrial beer yeast used as the carbon source, and characterized by XRD, FT-IR and SEM. The adsorption behavior of uranium on MHTC was investigated as a function of C/Mn atomic ratio, initial pH, contact time and initial uranium concentration. The results show that MHTC with C/Mn atomic ratio of 1∶10 (MHTC-10) has the highest uranium adsorption capacity. The maximum adsorption capacity of 371 mg/g reaches at pH=4.5 with 12 h contact time when initial uranium concentration is 50 mg/L. The adsorption process conforms to the pseudo second order model and Freundlich isotherm model. Thermodynamics data suggest that the adsorption process is spontaneous and exothermic. The results can provide a new idea for the separation and enrichment of uranium from uranium-containing aqueous.