Synthesis of amyloid fibrils-PEI hybrid membrane for efficient removal of 99mTc from medical wastewater

Currently, the primary approach for treating radioactive isotopes all over the world is a great challenge. The impact of this treatment is to transform liquid radioactive wastewater (present in huge volume) into low-volume solid radioactive waste. The current work presents synthesis and application of novel adsorbent using β-lactoglobulin fibrils (βFs) on SiO 2 particles and activated carbon particles (AC particles), which considered as facile and ecologically conscious. βFs were produced by denaturing inexpensive β-lactoglobulin. This method of filtering was used for radioactive waste, which differs from most prior adsorption techniques. Polyethyleneimine (PEI) was grafted onto protein fibrils using polydopamine (PDA). The produced material shows highly removal performance of TcO 4 - under both acidic and alkaline conditions (up to 99.76 %, with filtering time of just 5–6 min). This membrane exhibits a superior preference for TcO 4 - over certain common competing ions, including SO 4 2- , NO 3 – , and Cl - . The hybrid membrane achieves maximum adsorption performance for the substituted ion ReO 4 - of 533 mg/g, which is higher than the most commonly used fiber materials. Furthermore, βFs-PDA + PEI fibrils can efficiently treat up to 8000 kg of wastewater per kg and exhibit remarkable reusability performance. This membrane’s simple production, efficient performance, and excellent selectivity make it ideal to be implemented in both hospitals and nuclear power plants.