Vol.:(0123456789) 1 3 Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-019-06979-8 Development and characterization of non‑treated and chemically modifed olive pomace biosorbents to remove Ce(III) ions from aqueous solutions Yusuf Azmi Akbas 1  · Sabriye Yusan 1 Received: 19 August 2019 © Akadémiai Kiadó, Budapest, Hungary 2019 Abstract In this study, low-cost olive pomace, which is a waste of olive mill, was chemically modifed using diferent acids, character- ized, and utilized for the removal of Ce(III) from aqueous solutions. Non-treated olive pomace was used to investigate the efect of chemical modifcation on cerium(III) removal. BET, SEM, FT-IR, DTA-TG and elemental analysis were realized. The efects of parameters such as solution pH, contact time, initial Ce(III) concentration and temperature on the biosorption were studied. The composition and chemical states of biosorbents was examined after the biosorption of Ce(III) by XPS. Sorption isotherm models, thermodynamic and kinetic parameters were studied. Keywords Olive pomace · Cerium · Biosorption · Modifcation Introduction Cerium is the most abundant element in the lanthanide group, has many potential uses in chemical engineering, luminescence, catalysis, nuclear energy, metallurgy, mag- netism, ceramic, and alloys preparation, etc. [1, 2]. Cerium is accompanied by other rare earth elements in its minerals, as well as in the spent nuclear fuel. The environmental behavior of REEs has attracted great interest in the environmental impact assessment of disposed long-lived radioactive waste [3–5]. For this reason, the separation, sorption and recovery of lanthanides from nuclear and industrial wastes are very important in environmental and economic terms [3]. To remove lanthanide and heavy metals from nuclear and industrial wastewater, chemical precipitation, ion exchange, membrane fltration, reverse osmosis, sorption and co-precipitation are used widely. Biosorption is one of the most preferred methods for ease of application and cost advantage. In the biosorption process, it is important that the adsorbent is desired to have high adsorption capacity, high biosorption rate and at the same time, it is economical and reusable. Many kinds of materials such as tree leaves, microorganisms, sawdust, bark, cone biomass, alginate com- pounds, grapefruit peel, prawn carapace, corn style, crab shell, algae are widely used for biosorption processes [6–13]. The pulp obtained as a large amount of waste in olive oil production process is called as olive pomace. Olive pomace is an economical and ecofriendly biosorbent with a high sur- face area containing lignocellulose (40.4% cellulose, 32.2% hemicellulose, 27.2% lignin) in almost all of its structure and can be used in heavy metal removal. Economically, it is very important to dispose of this material which is obtained as waste from the olive oil production. For these reasons, olive pomace has been used in many researches [14]. Dif- ferent studies in the literature have shown that olive pomace could be used as biosorbent to remove contaminants such as phenols [15], dyes [16], or heavy metals like Cd(II), Pb(II), Cu(II) [17–19]. In this view, further chemical treatments could improve olive pomace performances, specifc surface properties and also increase the selectivity to heavy metals/ radionuclides in wastewater [20]. The aim of this study was to evaluate the efect of difer- ent acid treatment for Ce(III) biosorption onto olive pomace samples. The biosorption capacities of raw olive pomace and modifcated olive pomace samples towards Ce(III) ions were compared and experimental parameters and biosorp- tion mechanisms were investigated. * Sabriye Yusan sabriye.doyurum@ege.edu.tr 1 Ege University Institute of Nuclear Sciences, 35100 Bornova, Izmir, Turkey