Abstract
The aim of this work was to study the potential of food waste materials (banana peel, potato peel, apple peel, lemon peel, coffee waste, decaf coffee waste, grape waste, and carob peel) as low-cost adsorbents for the removal of aliphatic and aromatic volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from wastewater. The ability of examined food waste materials to adsorb VOCs from synthetic multi-component standard solutions was evaluated and the examined food waste materials showed high removal efficiency. Performances of coffee waste, grape waste, and lemon peel were detailed by using Trichloroethylene and p-Xylene in mono-component standard solutions. The adsorption capacity of the three selected food wastes was determined by using linear Langmuir and Freundlich isotherm models. Two errors functions, average percentage error (APE) and the chi-square test (χ2), were used for isotherm optimization prediction. Freundlich isotherm well described the adsorption of VOCs on the considered materials. According to the obtained results, a multilayer, physical, and cooperative adsorption process was hypothesized, particularly evident when the VOCs’ concentrations are high. This was confirmed by the high adsorption efficiency percentages (E% > 80%) of VOCs from a real polluted matrix (urban solid waste leachate), containing high concentrations of total organic content.
Highlights
Volatile organic compounds (VOCs), aliphatic and aromatic, are a wide class of organic pollutants extensively released in the environment from a variety of anthropogenic sources such as fuel storage and transport, industrial operations [1], manufacture and storage of paints, and combustion processes [2].Most of the VOCs can cause direct and indirect harmful effects to humans as well as the environment.they represent one of the main causes of chronic contamination, especially in industrialized countries, since their chemical and physical properties enable them to persist in the environment.Chlorinated volatile organic compounds (Cl-VOCs) and aromatic hydrocarbons (BTEXs; benzene, toluene, and xylenes) are ubiquitous contaminants frequently detected in the environment
Preliminary tests on synthetic multi-component solutions were performed in order to verify the general behavior of the considered food waste materials as VOCs’ biosorbents
The rate of the adsorption process was evaluated by exposing the materials to a synthetic mixture of aromatic and aliphatic VOCs for increasing times (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 24 h)
Summary
Volatile organic compounds (VOCs), aliphatic and aromatic, are a wide class of organic pollutants extensively released in the environment from a variety of anthropogenic sources such as fuel storage and transport, industrial operations [1], manufacture and storage of paints, and combustion processes [2].Most of the VOCs can cause direct and indirect harmful effects to humans as well as the environment.they represent one of the main causes of chronic contamination, especially in industrialized countries, since their chemical and physical properties enable them to persist in the environment.Chlorinated volatile organic compounds (Cl-VOCs) and aromatic hydrocarbons (BTEXs; benzene, toluene, and xylenes) are ubiquitous contaminants frequently detected in the environment. Most of the VOCs can cause direct and indirect harmful effects to humans as well as the environment They represent one of the main causes of chronic contamination, especially in industrialized countries, since their chemical and physical properties enable them to persist in the environment. Human exposure to Cl-VOCs and BTEX is very common; they enter the body through multiple routes, such as inhalation, ingestion, and dermal absorption [3,4,5]. The toxicity of these compounds is increased by the fact that VOCs are strongly lipophilic with a capacity to concentrate in fat deposits by determining a long-term exposure [6,7]. Since the beginning of the 20th century, Cl-VOCs were extensively used as solvents for processes such as dry cleaning, production of pesticides, paints, Materials 2019, 12, 4242; doi:10.3390/ma12244242 www.mdpi.com/journal/materials
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