Removal of uranium using MnO2/orange peel biochar composite prepared by activation and in-situ deposit in a single step

Orange peel is an important resource in view of its low-cost and universal nature. A novel material (MnO 2 /orange peel carbon, MnO 2 /OPC) was yielded via a single step involving activation and in situ deposit. The feasibility of uranium removal using MnO 2 /OPC was tested by varying MnO 2 loading amount, pH, ionic strength , uranium initial concentration and temperature. 1.2MnO 2 /OPC yielded the most competitive uptake value as 246.3 mg g −1 . The pH beneficial for adsorption was 5.5. The adsorption taken the way of inner-sphere surface complexation and the process was an endothermic, entropy increasing and spontaneous process in nature. The work gave enlightening results for reusing orange peel as raw materials to produce a kind of scavenger materials of economy and effectivity in the field of treating radioactive aqueous solution.