Cost-efficient and sustainable treatment of malachite green, a model micropollutant with a wide range of uses, from wastewater with Pyracantha coccinea M. J. Roemer plant, an effective and eco-friendly biosorbent

Abstract

ABSTRACT Malachite green is a pestilential micropollutant with a wide range of uses. In this work, cost-efficient and sustainable treatment of malachite green from aqueous medium was first studied using the biosorbent material obtained from Pyracantha coccinea M. J. Roemer plant. The biosorption kinetics followed the pseudo-second-order model (R 2: 0.996). The standard Gibbs free energy change parameter ranging from −8.472 kJ mol−1 to −7.357 kJ mol−1 indicated a spontaneous and feasible treatment process. The biosorption isotherm was well described by Freundlich model with an R 2 of 0.991. SEM and FTIR studies showed an irregular and uneven biosorbent surface morphology rich in active site. The biosorbent exhibited a good biosorption performance compared to its competitors, with a capacity of 117.745 mg g−1. As a result, this study indicated that P. coccinea M. J. Roemer-based biosorbent could be a promising candidate for the economical, effective, eco-friendly and sustainable treatment of malachite green micropollutant.