Quince seed mucilage magnetic nanocomposites as novel bioadsorbents for efficient removal of cationic dyes from aqueous solutions.

This study investigated the potential use of quince seed mucilage (QSM) as alternative bioadsorbents for methylene blue (MB) dye from aqueous solutions. This novel magnetic nanocomposite adsorbent (MNCA) based on QSM was synthesized by in situ formation of magnetic iron oxide nanoparticles into QSM solution. The MNCAs were characterized using FTIR, SEM, TEM, XRD, and VSM. Removal of MB was investigated by batch adsorption technique. The thermodynamic parameters suggest that the dye adsorption process is spontaneous and exothermic in nature. Moreover, the adsorbents showed high selectivity for the adsorption of cationic dyes with regenerated properties. The pseudo-second-order kinetics and Langmuir adsorption isotherm models also provide the best correlation of the experimental data for MB adsorption. The results indicate that the MNCAs can be employed as efficient low cost adsorbents with excellent dye adsorption performance in wastewater treatment process.