Abstract
Haloxylon persicum leaves were used as adsorbent biomass in the separation of thorium ions from an aqueous batch system. H. persicum leaves were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, and Brunauer-Emmett- Teller analyses. The maximum separation (99.78%) and sorption capacity (18.82 mg/g) were obtained at 0.3 g H. persicum leaves dose, pH 5, 60 min, 100 mg Th(IV), and 30 degrees C). The experi-mental outputs were modeled by the nonlinear method to examine appropriate isotherm and kinetic sorption in the exothermic batch system. The results appeared that the Langmuir and pseudo- second-order were the best fitting models. Also, H. persicum leaves has can be used in the adsorption-desorption system for up to seven cycles. The sorption system was scaled up to design a full-scale sorption system using the best fitting isotherm (Langmuir). The results indi-cated that the H. persicum leaves could be used as eco-friendly and low-cost biodegradable biomass for the effective sorption of Th(IV) from the aqueous system in pilot and full-scale systems.