Abstract
Batch adsorption experiments have been conducted to investigate the removal of methyl orange from aqueous solution by an activated carbon prepared from prickly pear seed cake by phosphoric acid activation. The adsorption process has been described by using kinetic and isotherm models. The kinetic of adsorption was examined by pseudo-first-order, pseudo-second-order, and intraparticle diffusion models. Adsorption isotherm was modeled using Langmuir, Freundlich, Temkin and Dubinin–Radushkevich isotherms. The adsorption process of methyl orange was well explained by the pseudo-second-order model and Freundlich isotherm. Also, pseudo-n-order model has been applied to estimate the order of adsorption kinetic and it was found equal to 2 which confirm the good accuracy of the pseudo-second order. Moreover, Dubinin–Radushkevich isotherm reveals that the adsorption of methyl orange onto activated carbon was a physisorption process in nature. The adsorption capacity of activated carbon was found to be 336.12 mg/g at temperature 20°C andpH∼7. These results demonstrated that the prickly pear seed cake is a suitable precursor for the preparation of appropriate activated carbon for dyes removal from aqueous solution.
Highlights
Industrial liquid effluents contain a wide variety of chemicals which affect, if discharged without any treatment, rivers, seas, lakes, and groundwater and cause environmental pollution and harmful effects on human and animal health even in low concentrations [1,2,3,4]
The adsorption process was well described by the pseudo-second-order model and Freundlich isotherm. e adsorption capacity of the prepared activated carbon for methylene blue at temperature 20°C and pH ∼ 7 was found to be 260 mg/g [33]
To test the performance of the prepared activated carbon in the removal of anionic dyes from aqueous solution, methyl orange was chosen as a model adsorbate. e adsorption performance was evaluated by kinetic and isotherm studies
Summary
Industrial liquid effluents contain a wide variety of chemicals which affect, if discharged without any treatment, rivers, seas, lakes, and groundwater and cause environmental pollution and harmful effects on human and animal health even in low concentrations [1,2,3,4]. Among these chemicals, the dyes used in several sectors such as textiles, cosmetics, plastics, pigments units, leather, and paper industries have been considered as the primary pollutant due to their stability and low biodegradability [3]. Considerable interest has been focused on the adsorption technique for dyes removal from solutions using various adsorbent such as activated carbon [6,7,8], clays [9, 10], siliceous material [11, 12], zeolites [13, 14], alumina [15], and hybrid materials [16, 17]. e adsorption is highly effective technique for dyes removal from wastewater. e major advantages of adsorption process are its relative simplicity, low cost, and possible regeneration of the adsorbent [3]
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