Al3+ incorporated chitosan-gelatin hybrid microspheres and their use for toxic ions removal: Assessment of its sustainability metrics

Herein, we discuss the application of Al3+ incorporated chitosan and gelatin (Al@CS-Ge microspheres) based biopolymeric hybrid microspheres were fabricated and utilized as an effective sorbent for the selective remediation of phosphate and nitrate ions from water/ wastewater. The surface morphology, functional groups, thermal performance, crystallographic information and elemental composition of the fabricated microspheres were performed by different techniques. The adsorption experiments contained with isotherm, thermodynamic, kinetics and several influencing aspects like shaking time, adsorbent dosage, pH, background ions and pHZPC. In addition, the alternative approach of yielding the biopolymeric microspheres was sufficiently good adsorption capacity and stability in the acidic, neutral and weakly in alkaline medium is proposed. Furthermore, five regeneration cycles were conducted with Al@CS-Ge microspheres to evaluate the removal performance after regeneration to attain equilibrium adsorption efficiency was achieved. In addition, the impact of prepared Al@CS-Ge microspheres was evaluated by calculating the significant sustainability metrics and economic impacts.