Efficient thorium removal by alginate-immobilized Aspergillus niger: characterization, kinetics, thermodynamic and mechanism analysis

In this work, a modified biomass material was successfully prepared by immobilization and inactivation method based on Aspergillus niger , and the obtained environmentally friendly Alginate-immobilized Aspergillus niger microsphere (AAM) exhibited a superior Th(IV) biosorption performance. The sorption kinetics and thermodynamic analysis were studied and showed that the sorption process is spontaneous and endothermic under the experimental conditions. Additionally, the maximum biosorption capacity of AAMs for Th(IV) can be of 303.95 mg g −1 at 313.15 K, which exhibited a superior biosorption capacity than the most reported other biomass materials. The results illustrated the biomaterial had good recyclability through immobilization and inactivation.