Applicability of disulfide-polymer particles surface embedded on alginate beads for cadmium removal from airport derived stormwater

•Disulfide/thiol functionalized composite was devised by embedding polymer on the alginate beads.•Within 6 min, half of the cadmium ions were removed by novel composites, DiS-algi.•Reactive column test for simulating conventional filter revealed the potential of DiS-algi filter.•Filter regeneration tests proved reusability of DiS-algi filter.