Preparation of benzenesulfonyl hydrazone modified guar gum and its adsorption properties for dyes and phytotoxicity assays

Herein, a novel environmentally friendly benzenesulfonyl hydrazone modified guar gum (DGH) that carries excellent adsorption performance towards dyes was facilely prepared through oxidation and condensation. The structure, morphology, and physics-chemical of DGH were fully characterized by multiple analysis techniques. The as-prepared adsorbent yielded highly efficient separating performance towards multiple anionic and cation dyes, including CR, MG, and ST with the maximum adsorption capacity of 1065.3839 ± 10.5695, 1256.4467 ± 2.9425, and 1043.8140 ± 0.9789 mg/g at 298.15 K, respectively. The adsorption process well fitted the Langmuir isotherm models and the pseudo-second-order kinetic models. The adsorption thermodynamics revealed that the adsorption of dyes onto DGH was spontaneous and endothermic. The adsorption mechanism indicated that the hydrogen bonding and electrostatic interaction participated in the fast and efficient removal of dyes. Furthermore, the removal efficiency of DGH still remained above 90 % after six adsorption-desorption cycles, and the presence of Na⁺, Ca²⁺, and Mg²⁺ have weakly impacted the removal efficiency of DGH. The phytotoxicity assay was conducted via the germination of mung bean seeds, which confirmed the adsorbent can effectivity decreased the toxicity of dyes. Overall, the modified gum-based multifunctional material has good promising applications for wastewater treatment.