Sustainable Synthesis of EDTA and Citric Acid‐Modified Cellulose From Sugarcane Bagasse for Efficient Adsorptive Removal of Carbofuran From Wastewater

The development of sustainable, economical, and environmentally benign sorbents is essential to remove persistent organic pollutants from wastewater. This research aims to extract and modify the cellulose from sugarcane bagasse with ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (cellulose‐EDTA) and citric acid (cellulose‐CA), and to investigate the potential applications of these prepared adsorbents in wastewater treatment containing carbofuran. Digital images via SEM confirm that the porosity of biosorbent increases through chemical modification, while FTIR spectra confirm the successful extraction and modification of cellulose. In a batch mode adsorption study, maximum biosorption capacity having values 21.07, 24.25, and 24.45 mg/g with cellulose, cellulose‐EDTA, and cellulose‐CA was computed for carbofuran. The kinetic results demonstrated that the process follows the pseudo‐second‐order model with R 2 ≥ 0.999 for all biosorbents. Moreover, the results of the thermodynamic study suggest that the adsorption is spontaneous, endothermic, and the mechanism is dominated by physical interaction. Isothermal analysis revealed that the Langmuir model best describes the adsorption process, indicating the monolayer coverage of carbofuran on prepared sorbents. Overall, chemically modified cellulose is an inexpensive, environmentally friendly, and recyclable biosorbent for efficient wastewater treatment containing pesticides.