Treated rice husk as a recyclable sorbent for the removal of microcystins from water

Microcystins (MCs) appear during harmful algal blooms (HABs) in water sources worldwide, and represent a threat for humans and animals ingesting or inhaling MCs from the environment. Herein, treated rice husk (RH) was tested as a recyclable sorbent for removal of six MCs (MC-RR, MC-LR, MC-YR, MC-LA, MC-LF, and MC-LW) from water. RH was refluxed with hydrochloric acid and heated to 250 °C to produce the sorbent material. Twenty milligrams of treated RH removed >95% of the MCs from a 30 mL solution containing 25 μg/L of each MC. The adsorption of MCs onto RH follows the Freundlich isotherm model (R2 ≥ 0.9612) and pseudo-second-order kinetics (R2 ≥ 0.9996). More than 90% of MCs were removed within 5 min, and >95% were removed at equilibrium (in 90% of MCs were removed within 5 min from water containing μg/L levels of MCs.•72 to 100% of MCs were removed from Lake Erie water containing