Evaluation of orange peel-derived activated carbons for treatment of dye-contaminated wastewater tailings

John Kwame Bediako, Shuo Lin, Amit Kumar Sarkar, Yufeng Zhao, Jong Won Choi, Myung Hee Song, Chul Woong Cho, Yeoung Sang Yun

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

58 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Dyes are colored compounds which are visible even at trace concentrations. Due to their recalcitrance and esthetic persistence, certain methods are unable to effectively eliminate them. So far, adsorptive treatment using activated carbons (ACs) is one of the most successful methods. In this study, we have employed orange peel (OP) as a cost-effective alternative to the expensive coal- and coir-based precursors to synthesize ACs for cationic methylene blue (MB) and anionic methyl orange (MO) dye adsorption. The pre-carbonized OP was activated via H2SO4, NaOH, KOH, ZnCl2, and H3PO4 to study the effects of activation reagents on dye removal efficiencies and mechanisms. Among several isotherm models employed to fit the adsorption data, the Langmuir and Sips models sufficiently estimated the maximum equilibrium uptakes close to the experimental values of 1012.10 ± 29.13, 339.82 ± 6.98, and 382.15 ± 8.62 mg/g, for ZnCl2-AC (MO), ZnCl2-AC (MB), and KOH-AC (MB), respectively. The adsorption mechanisms were suggested to involve electrostatic binding, pi–pi interactions, hydrogen bonding, and electron donor–acceptor reactions. Consequently, more than 99% removal efficiency was achieved from a laboratory organic wastewater sample bearing ~ 35 mg/L of MB. The results thus suggest that the synthesized ACs from agricultural waste have the tendencies to be applied to real dye wastewater treatment.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1053-1068
Number of pages16
JournalEnvironmental Science and Pollution Research
Volume27
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Jan 2020
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Activated carbon
  • Adsorption
  • Characterization
  • Methyl orange
  • Methylene blue
  • Wastewater

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