Sorption study of uranium on carbon spheres hydrothermal synthesized with glucose from aqueous solution

The ability of oxygen-rich carbon spheres (CSs) produced by hydrothermal carbonization with the glucose has been explored for the removal and recovery of uranium from aqueous solutions. The micro-morphology and structure of CSs were characterized by FT-IR and SEM. The influences of different experimental parameters such as solution pH, initial concentration, contact time, ionic strength and temperature on adsorption were investigated. The CSs showed the highest uranium sorption capacity at initial pH of 6.0 and contact time of 25 min. Adsorption kinetics was better described by the pseudo-second-order model and adsorption process could be well defined by the Langmuir isotherm. The thermodynamic parameters, △G°(298 K), △H° and △S° were determined to be ?16.88, 12.09 kJ mol^?1 and 197.87 J mol^?1 K^?1, respectively, which demonstrated the sorption process of CSs towards U(VI) was feasible, spontaneous and endothermic in nature. The adsorbed CSs could be effectively regenerated by 0.05 mol/L HCl solution for the removal and recovery of U(VI). Complete removal (99.9 %) of U(VI) from 1.0 L industry wastewater containing 15.0 mg U(VI) ions was possible with 3.0 g CSs.     

Sorption study of uranium from aqueous solution on ordered mesoporous carbon CMK-3

The ability of ordered mesoporous carbon CMK-3 has been explored for the removal and recovery of uraium from aqueous solutions. The textural properties of CMK-3 were characterized using small-angle X-ray diffraction and N₂ adsorption–desorption, and the BET specific surface area, pore volume and the pore size were 1143.7 m²/g, 1.10 cm³/g and 3.4 nm. The influences of different experimental parameters such as solution pH, initial concentration, contact time, ionic strength and temperature on adsorption were investigated. The CMK-3 showed the highest uranium sorption capacity at initial pH of 6.0 and contact time of 35 min. Adsorption kinetics was better described by the pseudo-second-order model and adsorption process could be well defined by the Langmuir and Freundlich isotherm. The thermodynamic parameters, ?G°(298 K), ?H° and ?S° were determined to be ?7.7, 21.5 k J mol^?1 and 98.2 J mol^?1 K^?1, respectively, which demonstrated the sorption process of CMK-3 towards U(VI) was feasible, spontaneous and endothermic in nature. The adsorbed CMK-3 could be effectively regenerated by 0.05 mol/L HCl solution for the removal and recovery of U(VI). Complete removal (99.9 %) of U(VI) from 1.0 L industry wastewater containing 15.0 mg U(VI) ions was possible with 2.0 g CMK-3.     

Methylene blue removal from aqueous solution by magnetic clinoptilolite/chitosan/EDTA nanocomposite

In this study, clinoptilolite as a natural zeolite which was magnetized using precipitation of maghemite nanoparticles was coated by chitosan and then modified by thylenediamine tetra-acetic acid to add functional groups and its performance in the removal of toxic methylene blue from aqueous solution was investigated. Synthesized magnetic nanocomposite was characterized by VSM, XRD, SEM, and FTIR analyses. The saturation magnetization of the final nanocomposite was obtained as 22.2 emu/g. In addition, the factors affecting adsorption process and its optimization were investigated using response surface methodology and central composite design. Data obtained by different isotherm, adsorption kinetic and thermodynamic models were also studied. The results showed good agreement of these data with the Freundlich isotherm model (R ² = 0.99), and it was found that adsorption follows the second-order kinetics model (R ² = 1). Negative values of ΔG and positive values of ΔH obtained from this adsorption thermodynamic study revealed that the methylene blue adsorption process is exothermic and spontaneous. The optimum conditions to ensure maximum adsorption efficiency were determined, and included pH = 5.54, adsorbent amount of 0.03 g, temperature of 31.18 °C, and initial solution concentration of 16.21 mg/l which resulted in a removal efficiency of 99.44%. The results indicated that this nanocomposite can be used as a proper adsorbent for adsorbing methylene blue and other dye contaminants.     

Adsorption of uranium from aqueous solution using biochar produced by hydrothermal carbonization

The ability of biochar produced by hydrothermal carbonization (HTC) has been explored for the removal and recovery of uranium from aqueous solutions. The micro-morphology and structure of HTC were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy. The influences of different experimental parameters such as solution pH, initial concentration, contact time, ionic strength and temperature on adsorption were investigated. The HTC showed the highest uranium sorption capacity at initial pH of 6.0 and contact time of 50 min. Adsorption kinetics was better described by the pseudo-second-order model and adsorption process could be well defined by the Langmuir isotherm. The thermodynamic parameters, △G°(298 K), △H° and △S° were determined to be ?14.4, 36.1 kJ mol^?1 and 169.7 J mol^?1 K^?1, respectively, which demonstrated the sorption process of HTC towards U(VI) was feasible, spontaneous and endothermic in nature. The adsorbed HTC could be effectively regenerated by 0.05 mol/L HCl solution for the removal and recovery of U(VI). Complete removal (99.9 %) of U(VI) from 1.0 L industry wastewater containing 15.0 mg U(VI) ions was possible with 2.0 g HTC.     

Dye removal using 4A-zeolite/polyvinyl alcohol mixed matrix membrane adsorbents: preparation,characterization, adsorption,kinetics, and thermodynamics

In pursuit of improving performance of the methylene blue adsorption process, the potential of a novel 4A-zeolite/polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) membrane adsorbent was investigated. Adding 4A-zeolite particles to the PVA membrane adsorbent provided an effective structure for the adsorptive membrane in dye removal processes. Effect of zeolite content was also studied via synthesis of different mixed matrix membrane adsorbents (MMMAs) with 5, 10, 15, and 20 wt% 4A-zeolite content. Morphology of MMMAs was analyzed by scanning electron microscope and the intermolecular interactions were determined by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. X-ray diffraction was performed to determine the crystal structure of MMMAs. For the sake of finding optimum condition, the adsorption capacity was examined at various operating parameters, such as contact time, temperature, pH, and initial concentration. The maximum value of the adsorption capacity (q _e) of 41.08 mg g^?1 and the highest removal efficiency of 87.41 % were obtained by applying 20 wt% loading of 4A-zeolite. The experimental data were fitted well with the Freundlich adsorption isotherm model (R ² = 0.9917) compared with the Langmuir (R ² = 0.9489) and the Tempkin (R ² = 0.8886) adsorption isotherm models, and the adsorption kinetic data verified the best fitting with the pseudo-second-order model (R ² = 0.9999). The estimated data for Gibb’s free energy (ΔG°) showed that the adsorption process is spontaneous at lower temperature values and non-spontaneous at higher temperature values. Other evaluated thermodynamic parameters such as changing in enthalpy (ΔH°) and entropy (ΔS°) revealed that the adsorption process is exothermic with an increase in orderliness at the solid/solution interface.     

Kinetics study of selective removal of lead(II) in an aqueous solution containing lead(II), copper(II) and cadmium(II) across bulk liquid membrane

Transport of Pb(II) ion from equimolar aqueous solutions of Pb(II), Cu(II) and Cd(II) as well as from aqueous solutions containing only Pb(II) source phase (C_metal = 1.0 × 10^?4 mol L^?1) through bulk liquid membranes containing crown ether and oleic acid as carrier has been investigated. The initial fluxes of transported metal ions depend on the hydrophile–lipophile balance (HLB) and molar volumes (Vx) of crown ethers. The initial fluxes of Pb(II), Cu(II), and Cd(II) decrease with increase of HLB value for azacrown ether, i.e., tetraaza-14-crown-4 (A₄14C4), L1 > benzo-15-crown-5 (B15C5), L2 > 4′-Aminobenzo-15C5, L3 > nitrobenzo-15-crown-5 (NB15C5), L4. The selectivity of the metal ions showed the following separation factors (SF): SF_Pb–Cu = 2.15, SF_Cu–Cd = 2.10, SF_Pb–Cd = 4.52. The highest transport recovery for Pb(II) was observed for L1 (99.3 %).     

Optimization of the oxalate catalyzed photoelectro-Fenton process under visible light for removal of Reactive Red 195 using a carbon paper cathode

The decolorization of Reactive Red 195 (RR195) by the oxalate catalyzed photoelectro-Fenton (PEF) process using carbon paper electrode as a cathode under visible light was studied. Comparison between electro-Fenton (EF), PEF, and PEF/oxalate processes for the removal of RR195 showed that color removal follows in decreasing order: PEF/oxalate > PEF > EF. Response surface methodology (RSM) was used to determine the effects of the four main independent parameters (initial dye, oxalate and Fe³⁺ concentrations, and reaction time) on decolorization efficiency. A high coefficient of determination value (R ² = 0.963) has resulted from the analysis of variance (ANOVA). The optimum values of the initial Fe³⁺ concentration, the initial amount of oxalate, the initial dye concentration, and the reaction time were found to be 0.3 mM, 0.6 mM, 20 mg/L, and 120 min, respectively. A high decolorization efficiency (>93 %) was experimentally obtained for RR195 under the established optimum conditions. The response surface plots were employed to establish the effect of experimental parameters on the decolorization efficiency. These results clearly indicated the success of RSM as a suitable method for optimizing the operating conditions. The mineralization of the dye was investigated by total organic carbon (TOC) measurement. 96.2 % mineralization of 50 mg/L RR195 was observed at 9 h.     

Determination of Melamine Based on the Formation of an Insoluble Copper-Melamine Complex and Flame Atomic Absorption Spectrometry

A copper-melamine complex was optimally synthesized by heating excess copper(II), as 50 m mol L^?1 copper(II) chloride in 50% (v/v) methanol, and melamine at 80°C. The amount of residual copper(II) in solution after removal of the copper-melamine complex was then measured by flame atomic absorption spectrometry. The concentration of depleted copper was proportional to the concentration of melamine, with a linear calibration curve (melamine concentration against copper absorbance) between 0.5 and 2.5 m mol L^?1 (R² = 0.9943) and with a limit of detection of 0.50 m mol L^?1. Although external standard calibration provided poor recoveries in fortified fish flesh (40% to 74% for 5 to 10 mg melamine/g), the method of standard addition provided acceptable values (90% to 93%), with a relative standard deviation of 3% to 10%. The results obtained with the standard addition method were in broad agreement with those obtained by high performance liquid chromatography.     

Synthesis and application of a thermosensitive tri-block copolymer as an efficient sample treatment technique for preconcentration and ultra-trace detection of lead ions

We have designed and synthesized a thermosensitive tri-block copolymer for selective trace extraction of Pb(II) ions from biological and food samples. The polymer was characterized by Fourier transform IR and NMR spectroscopy, and by gel permeation chromatography. The critical aggregation concentration and lower critical solution temperature were determined via fluorescence and UV spectrophotometry, respectively. The effects of solution pH value, amount of copolymer, of the temperature on extraction and on phase separation, and of the matrix on the extraction of Pb(II) were optimized. Pb(II) ions were then quantified by FAAS. The use of this copolymer resulted in excellent figures of merit including a calibration plot extending from 0.5 to 160 μg L^?1 (with an R² of >0.99), a limit of detection (LOD) as low as 90 pg L^?1, an extraction efficiency of >98 %, and relative standard deviations of <4 % for eight separate extraction experiments.

Characterization of radioactive cobalt on graphene oxide by macroscopic and spectroscopic techniques

Graphene oxide (GO) was synthesized using the modified Hummers method and characterized by XRD and FTIR. The sorption of ⁶⁰Co(II) on GO as a function of contact time, pH, polyacrylic acid, ionic strength, temperature and solution concentration was studied by batch technique. The sorption kinetics indicated that the sorption of ⁶⁰Co(II) on GO could be simulated by the pseudo-second-order model very well. The maximum sorption capacities of GO for ⁶⁰Co(II) calculated from Langmuir model at pH 6.40 and T = 300 K was ~62.0 mg/g. The thermodynamic parameters from the temperature-dependent sorption isotherms indicated that the ⁶⁰Co(II) sorption on GO was an endothermic and spontaneous process. The interaction mechanism between GO and Co(II) were outer-sphere surface complexation or ion exchange at pH <7, whereas the inner-sphere surface complexation was observed at pH 7–9 in terms of the analysis of XPS spectra.     

Investigation into the crystal structure of bis(pyridine)-bis(trichloroacetato) copper(II) and its electrophotochemical properties

A novel chained Cu(II) complex was synthesized from trichloroacetato copper(II) and pyridine in ethanol solvent, and characterized by elemental analysis and infrared (IR) spectroscopy. The special crystal structure of the Cu(II) complex was determined by X-ray single-crystal diffraction. The results indicate that a chained structure of the Cu(II) complex formed through intermolecular hydrogen bonds. Cu(CCl₃COO)₂(C₅H₅N)₂(H₂O) was monoclinic, with unit cell P21/c and cell parameters as follows: a = 14.389(3) Å, b = 7.1911(14) Å, c = 23.107(8) Å, V = 2,257.5(10) Å³, Z = 4, M _r = 564.51, D _c = 1.661 mg/m³, T = 293(2) K, F(000) = 1,124, μ(Mo K_α) = 1.704 mm^?1, R = 0.0984, and ωR = 0.2791. The electrochemical behavior of the Cu(II) complex on a glassy carbon working electrode determined by cyclic voltammetry showed the electrochemical activity of the title compound at 0.2 to ?0.3 V (versus SCE) in NH₃–NH₄Cl buffer solution (pH 9.2), and the redox peak current of the complex had a good linear relationship with the square root of the scan rate in the range 0.02–0.2 V/s.     

Poly-L-Histidine Attached Poly(glycidyl methacrylate) Cryogels for Heavy Metal Removal

Poly-L-histidine immobilized poly(glycidyl methacrylate) (PGMA) cryogel discs were used for the removal of heavy metal ions [Pb(II), Cd(II), Zn(II) and Cu(II)] from aqueous solutions. In the first step, PGMA cryogel discs were synthesized using glycidyl methacrylate (GMA) as a basic monomer and methylene bisacrylamide (MBAAm) as a cross linker in order to introduce active epoxy groups through the polymeric backbone. Then, the metal chelating groups are incorporated to cryogel discs by immobilizing poly-L-histidine (mol wt ≥ 5000) having poly-imidazole ring. The swelling test, fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy were performed to characterize both the PGMA and poly-L-histidine immobilized PGMA [P-His@PGMA] cryogel discs. The effects of the metal ion concentration and pH on the adsorption capacity were studied. These parameters were varied between 3.0–6.0 and 10–800 mg/L for pH and metal ion concentration, respectively. The maximum adsorption capacity of heavy metal ions of P-His@PGMA cryogel discs were 6.9 mg/g for Pb(II), 6.4 mg/g for Cd(II), 5.6 mg/g for Cu(II) and 4.3 mg/g for > Zn(II). Desorption of heavy metal ions was studied with 0.1 M HNO₃ solution. It was observed that cryogel discs could be recurrently used without important loss in the adsorption amount after five repetitive adsorption/desorption processes. Adsorption isotherms were fitted to Langmuir model and adsorption kinetics were suited to pseudo-second order model. Thermodynamic parameters (i.e. ΔH° ΔS°, ΔG°) were also calculated at different temperatures.     

Removal of uranium from aqueous solution using montmorillonite-supported nanoscale zero-valent iron

Montmorillonite-supported nanoscale zero-valent iron (M-nZVI) was synthesized by sodium borohydride reduction and characterized by X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM). The interaction of uranium with M-nZVI was studied using batch technique under different experimental conditions such as pH, ionic strength, initial U(VI) concentration, solid-to-liquid ration (m/V), and temperature. The presence of montmorillonite decreased the aggregation while increased the specific surface area (SSA) of the iron nanoparticles. The SSA for as-synthesized M-nZVI was 91.42 m²/g, higher than 26.60 and 10.23 m²/g for nZVI and montmorillonite, respectively. The removal efficiency of U(VI) using M-nZVI was significantly affected by the pH of the aqueous solution, whereas it was slightly affected by ionic strength and temperature. The isoelectric point of M-nZVI was at pH 5.6; however the results indicated that the optimum removal efficiency of U(VI) using M-nZVI was achieved at a pH range 3.0–5.0. The experiments with aqueous solution containing 100 μg/L of U(VI) showed that the removal efficiency of the as-synthesized M-nZVI was about 978 μg/g at pH 3.0. These results show that M-nZVI has a potential as a novel material for removing U(VI) from aqueous solution.     

Optimization of Copper and Lead Removal by a Novel Biosorbent: Cucumber (Cucumis Sativus) Peels—Kinetic,Equilibrium, and Desorption Studies

Cucumber peels biosorption efficiency for copper(II) and lead(II) was studied in batch mode. The optimum conditions for removal of Cu(II) and Pb(II) ions were found to be pH 5.0, biosorbent dose of 0.1 g, contact time of 60 and 85 minutes, and initial concentration of 100 and 150 mg/L, respectively. The kinetic data were best described by pseudo-second order model. The biosorption process followed by the Langmuir isotherm model. Maximum monolayer biosorption capacities were 88.50 and 147.06 mg/g for Cu(II) and Pb(II) ions, respectively. Thermodynamic parameters suggest that the biosorption process is spontaneous and endothermic. Desorption studies were carried out with different desorbing agents.     

Process optimization and kinetics study for photocatalytic ciprofloxacin degradation using TiO2 nanoparticle: A comparative study of Artificial Neural Network and Surface Response Methodology

The photocatalytic degradation of ciprofloxacin was investigated by developing a predictive mathematical model using response surface methodology and an artificial neural network. The four independent variables involve solution pH, reaction time, catalyst dose, and initial antibiotic concentration considered as factors in central composite design to observe the response in the form of antibiotic degradation. Accordingly, at an optimum antibiotic concentration of 5.02 mg/L, catalyst dose of 44.51 mg/L, solution pH of 5.04, and reaction time of 75.80 min, the photocatalysis method achieved a ciprofloxacin degradation of 88.30%. The experimental outputs were very much consistent along with the predicted output of experiments through response surface methodology (R² = 0.9969) and artificial neural network (R² = 0.975). The adsorption isotherm and kinetic study reveal that Langmuir isotherm and pseudo-second-order kinetic models respectively were best fitted for degradation of ciprofloxacin through photocatalysis. The finding provides a novel method for evaluating the photocatalysis process for the optimization of ciprofloxacin antibiotic removal from pharmaceutical waste using experiments and computer simulation tools.     

Efficient Adsorption and Recovery of Pb(II) from Aqueous Solution by a Granular pH-Sensitive Chitosan-based Semi-IPN Hydrogel

A series of granular pH-sensitive semi-interpenetrating polymer network (semi-IPN) hydrogels based on chitosan (CTS), acrylic acid (AA) and gelatine (GE) were utilized for the adsorption and recycle of Pb(II) from aqueous solutions. The composite hydrogels have been characterized by FT-IR and TGA. The effects of contact time, pH value and initial Pb(II) concentration on the adsorption were investigated. Results indicated that the adsorption capacity of the hydrogel increased with increasing pH value and initial Pb(II) concentration, and a pH-sensitive adsorption characteristic was presented. The adsorption rate of the semi-IPN hydrogels on Pb(II) is fast with an adsorption rate constant of 14.9790 mg/(g·s), and adsorption equilibrium could be reached within 10 min. The adsorption isotherms of the hydrogels for Pb(II) could be described well by the Langmuir equation, rather than the Freundlich equation. The as-prepared hydrogels showed good reusability with 0.05 mol/l HNO₃ solutions as the desorbing agent and 0.1 mol/l NaOH solutions as the regeneration agent, respectively. After five consecutive adsorption-desorption processes, the semi-IPN hydrogel with 20 wt% GE may reach 85.26% of its initial adsorption capacity. In addition, the adsorbed Pb(II) can be quantitatively recovered by simply eluting the hydrogel with dilute HNO₃ solution, and a recovery ratio of 89.27% was reached for the semi-IPN hydrogel. The satisfactory adsorption amount is mainly derived from the chelating of functional groups (i.e. –COO^? and –NH₂) with Pb(II) ions. The hydrogel adsorbents exhibited excellent affinity for Pb(II), and can be applied to treat wastewater containing heavy metal ion and simultaneously recover the valuable metal sources.     

Post Synthetic Modification of NH2-(Zr-MOF) via Rapid Microwave-promoted Synthesis for Effective Adsorption of Pb(II) and Cd(II)

Excessive heavy metals in the water constitute a health hazard to humans, yet it may be efficiently purified using adsorbents. Herein, for the first time, UiO-66-NH₂ was modified by Glycidyl methacrylate (GMA) via microwave heating method to investigate its potential for adsorption of Pb(II) and Cd(II) metal ions. Synthesized MOF was characterized by TGA, XRD, BET, FE-SEM-EDX, and FTIR. The MOF has a huge surface area of 1144 m²/g, a mean pore diameter of 2.84 nm, and a total pore volume of 0.37 cm³/g. The effect of UiO-66-GMA performance was evaluated by investigating the impact of pH (1–9), contact time (0–200 min), initial metal ions concentration (20–1000 mg/L), temperature (25–55 °C), adsorbent dosage (0.5–3 g/L), and co existences of other metals was investigated on Pb(II) and Cd(II) percentage removal. Following an analysis of the adsorption isotherms, kinetics, and thermodynamics, the Temkin isothermal model showed an excellent fit with the adsorption data (R² = 0.99). The adsorption process was a spontaneous endothermic reaction and kinetically followed the pseudo-second-order kinetics model. Microwave heating method produced highly crystalline small Zr-MOF nanoparticles with a short reaction time. It promoted the simple yet highly efficient synthesis of Zr-based MOFs, as shown by the reaction mass space-time yield. The adsorption capability of Pb to the presence of several polar functional groups, including as primary and secondary amines, ester, alkene, and hydroxyl groups. This adsorbent is a potential candidate for wastewater treatment due to its outstanding structural stability in acidic and basic solutions, high removal efficiency, and recyclability.     

Adsorption kinetics and equilibrium modeling of cesium on copper ferrocyanide

The copper ferrocyanide (CuFC) prepared in this study was characterized using X-ray diffraction and scanning election microscopy. The distribution of particle sizes of the CuFC suspension was determined. The adsorption kinetics data were evaluated for an intraparticle diffusion model, a pseudo-first order model and a pseudo-second order model at temperatures of 288, 298 and 308 K, respectively. It was found that the adsorption process of Cs⁺ on CuFC was best described by a pseudo-second order kinetic model, with a correlation coefficient (R ²) equal to 1.000, and the adsorption rate constant increased with increasing temperature. This result indicated that chemisorptions took place during the adsorption process. The adsorption equilibrium data fit well to the Langmuir, Freundlich and Dubinin-Radushkevich (D-R) isotherm models. The mean adsorption energy (E) between 11 and 13 kJ/mol at different temperatures indicated that ion exchange was the main mechanism during the adsorption process. Thermodynamic parameters were also evaluated during the adsorption. The values of the standard Gibbs free energy change (ΔG ^o) and standard enthalpy change (ΔH ^o) suggested that the adsorption was a spontaneous and endothermic process. The distribution coefficient (K _d) was more than 2.94 × 10⁶ mL/g when the pH of solution was between 2.6 and 10.9, and the initial Cs⁺ concentration was 100 μg/L. The existence of K⁺ and Na⁺ did not affect the adsorption of Cs⁺ on CuFC when the concentration of K⁺ and Na⁺ in the solution was below 20 and 1,000 mg/L, respectively.     

Impact of environmental conditions on the sorption behavior of Pb(II) onto attapulgite

This paper examined the application of attapulgite as an adsorbent for the removal of Pb(II) from heavy metal-contaminated water under various conditions. The sorption results indicated that the sorption of Pb(II) on attapulgite was strongly dependent on ionic strength at pH < 7.0. Outer-sphere surface complexation or ion exchange may be the main sorption mechanism of Pb(II) on attapulgite at low pH values. No drastic difference of Pb(II) sorption was observed at pH 7.0–10.0, and the sorption at pH > 10.0 was mainly dominated by inner-sphere surface complexation. The sorption of Pb(II) on attapulgite was affected by foreign ions in solution at pH < 7.0, and was not affected by foreign ions at pH > 7.0. The thermodynamic parameters (ΔH°, ΔS° and ΔG°) were evaluated from the temperature-dependent sorption isotherms, and the results indicated that the sorption process of Pb(II) on attapulgite was spontaneous and endothermic in nature.     

A Statistical Approach for Optimization of Polyhydroxybutyrate Production by Bacillus sphaericus NCIM 5149 under Submerged Fermentation Using Central Composite Design

The aim of this work was to statistically optimize the cultural and nutritional parameters for the production of polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB) under submerged fermentation using jackfruit seed hydrolysate as the sole carbon source. On the basis of results obtained from “one variable at a time” experiment, inoculum age, jackfruit seed hydrolysate concentration, and pH were selected for response surface methodology studies. A central composite design (CCD) was employed to get the optimum level of these three factors to maximize the PHB production. The CCD results predicted that jackfruit seed hydrolysates containing 2.5% reducing sugar, inoculum age of 18 h, and initial medium pH 6 could enhance the production of PHB to reach 49% of the biomass (biomass 4.5 g/l and PHB concentration 2.2 g/l). Analysis of variance exhibited a high coefficient of determination (R ²) value of 0.910 and 0.928 for biomass and PHB concentration, respectively, and ensured that the quadratic model with the experimental data was a satisfactory one. This is the first report on PHB production by Bacillus sphaericus using statistical experimental design and RSM in submerged fermentation with jackfruit seed hydrolysate as the sole source of carbon.