Synthesis of a novel cellulose-based adsorbent from olive tree pruning waste for removal of boron from aqueous solution

This work investigated the valorization of olive tree pruning debris as a biosorbent for the removal of environmentally hazardous boron from aqueous solution using batch adsorption. For this purpose, a novel, waste-based, boron selective biosorbent from olive tree pruning waste (N-OPW) was synthesized. Alkali pretreatment, followed by glycidyl-methacrylate (GMA) grafting and providing boron selectivity with n-methyl-d-glucamine (NMDG) steps, was applied to the biomass, respectively. N-OPW was characterized using SEM, TGA, and FT-IR analyses. N-OPW showed excellent boron biosorption capacity (21.80 mg/g) in an operation pH range between 2 and 12. The equilibrium was attained in 2 h and the Freundlich isotherm (R² = 0.997) and pseudo-second-order kinetics (R² = 0.99) provided the strongest match to experimental data. According to thermodynamic studies, boron adsorption was exothermic (ΔH = −34.14 kJ/mol). The reusability tests with real geothermal water showed that adsorbent had no significant decrease in boron removal capacity while desorbing >99% of the boron adsorbed for three cycles of adsorption/desorption. Results indicated that a promising, reusable, and boron selective biosorbent was successfully synthesized while utilizing olive pruning waste.