A new and low-cost surface-functionalized corn straw adsorbent for adsorptive removal of sodium dodecylbenzene sulfonate: Adsorbent preparation and adsorption performance

•Surface modification of corn straw through a bioinspired coating with PEI-TA.•PEI-TA@CS removed about 95 % of SDBS from aqueous solution.•PEI-TA@CS removed about 82 % of SDBS from synthesized greywater.•Adsorption was dominated by hydrophobic and electrostatic interactions.•PEI-TA@CS achieved effective, economical, and eco-friendly adsorption of SDBS.