Abstract
Activated carbon/Al2O3 nano-composite (ANC) was synthesized by simple pyrolysis after incorporating the aluminium acetate precursor in activated carbon (AC) matrix. The as-synthesized composite was characterized by FT-IR, XRD, BET isotherm, SEM, EDX, and TEM. The size of Al2O3 nanoparticles in carbon matrix was found to be in the range of 10-35 nm. Adsorption characteristics of nano-composite was evaluated using methylene blue dye (MB) by batch and column studies. In batch process, the effect of concentration, temperature and pH were investigated. Batch adsorption study was interpreted with Langmuir, Freundlich, Temkin and Dubinin-Radushkevich (D-R) isotherms. Results showed that adsorption follows Freudlich isotherm model with an adsorption capacity of 116 mg/g at pH 7 at 30 °C and it increases with increase in pH. Kinetic data indicated that the adsorption of dye follows pseudo-second order kinetics model. The negative value of ΔG indicates the spontaneous nature of the adsorption process. For column study the nano-composite was fabricated into Calcium alginate beads (CAB). The performance of CAB was studied with different influent concentrations of MB, pH and bed depth and the results have been interpreted using Thomas and BDST models. The column shows an adsorption capacity of 285.57 mg/g of CAB at pH 7 with bed height of 10 cm and best fitted to BDST model. These outcomes indicate the capability of carbon/Al2O3 nano-composite for dye removal.
Highlights
Environmental pollution is one of the serious global concerns, with a rapid upsurge of industrialization
With that of methylene blue adsorbed composite (MB-Al2O3 nano-composite (ANC)) it is observed that the absorption peaks characteristics of methylene blue, 1600 cm-1to 1580 cm-1 and 1500 cm-1 to 1400 cm-1 (Fig.1 d ) are found in the spectra of methylene blue dye (MB)-ANC
As the bed depth increases, the residence time of the solution inside the column increases, allowing the MB molecules to diffuse deeper inside the capillaries of Calcium alginate beads (CAB). These results indicate that the Bed-Depth/Service Time analysis (BDST) model gave a good fit for the prediction of adsorption performance of MB onto CAB
Summary
Environmental pollution is one of the serious global concerns, with a rapid upsurge of industrialization. The waste products engendered from industries such as textile, chemical, food, cosmetics, leather and metallurgical are major sources of soil and water contamination [1, 2].Dyes are common contaminants originating predominantly from textile industries, the removal of dyes from industrial effluents is one of the environmental issues today. Numerous techniques are being employed for achieving removal of dyes from wastewater. Adsorption has evolved as one of the successful physical method for purification of the textile wastewater, since it is economical and produces high-quality water. Many adsorbents are available such as activated carbon, Bentonite, Sepiolite, Zeolite, Kaolin [3] etc., while activated carbon shows good adsorption towards non-polar pollutants and dyes because of large surface area and microporous nature. Owing to the distressing challenges in the demand for unpolluted drinking water, researchers have been intensely involving in the development of new materials and methods for water purification
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