The presence of excess phosphate in water bodies leads to eutrophication, causing excessive growth of aquatic harmful plants such as algae and depletion of dissolved oxygen as a serious threat for aquatic life. The pollution of natural waters with excessive phosphate arises commonly from effluents and wastewaters originating from industrial, agricultural and household sources. Therefore, removal of phosphate from water is of great importance. Various methods such as chemical precipitation, biological treatment and adsorption have been used and studied for this purpose. Removal of phosphate from water using adsorption has attracted much attention because of its simplicity and low cost. In this work, a new biosorbent, Cu2+-impregnated chitosan/magnetite nanocomposite was prepared using a facile method with the aim of effective and selective removal of phosphate from water.
