Mitigation of atrazine pesticide from aqueous media using banana stem-derived activated carbon: batch, column, and regeneration studies

This study evaluates the potential of activated carbon derived from banana stem (BSAC), a readily available agro-waste, to act as an adsorbent in the removal of the widely used pesticide atrazine from contaminated water. Batch experiments demonstrated a maximum removal efficiency of 85.36% within 60 min under optimal conditions. Adsorption kinetics and equilibrium analyses revealed that the adsorption mechanism followed a pseudo-second-order (PSO) kinetic model and the Langmuir isotherm model, indicating chemisorption and monolayer adsorption behavior. The column adsorption studies had the adsorbent BSAC’s show 80% removal efficiency at an adsorbent bed height of 6 cm. Kinetic analyses of column data using Thomas, Adams-Bohart, and Yoon-Nelson models revealed that the Thomas model provided the best fit, highlighting chemisorption as the controlling mechanism. Regeneration experiments showed that BSAC can be partially regenerated, achieving a desorption efficiency of 66.45%. Given its readily availability, cost-effectiveness, very good adsorption capacity, and reusability potential, BSAC emerges as an attractive, eco-friendly alternative for atrazine mitigation in water treatment applications.