Adsorptive Demercuration by Virtue of an Appealing Interaction Involving Biopolymer Cellulose and Mercaptobenzothiazole

In this work, we present an interesting method for the adsorption of Hg(II) involving its interaction with cellulose and mercaptobenzothiazole (MBT). This affinity could be realized with cellulose and MBT acting as host and guest in the first instance followed by the subsequent complexation of Hg(II) with MBT. The soft-soft interaction between Hg(II) and sulfur enhances the effective complexation with MBT. The favorable experimental conditions, isotherm models, mechanism of interaction, and thermodynamics are discussed. The negative values of free energy obtained at various temperatures and the endothermic adsorption process affirms the spontaneity of adsorption. FT-IR, SEM, EDS, and XRD techniques were utilized to characterize the MBT impregnated cellulose as well as the Hg(II)-loaded adsorbent. With a high adsorption capacity of 204.08 mg g(-1) sample volume of 500 mL could be quantitatively treated by column method. Potassium thiocyanate functions as a valuable reagent for the desorption of Hg(II). The practical application was tested for the adsorption of mercury vapor emanating from a used Compact Fluorescent Lamp (CFL).