Methylene Blue dye sorption by hybrid materials from technical lignins

Abstract

New hybrid sorbents were synthesized from technical lignins and silica and were applied for the removal of Methylene Blue dye (MB) from aqueous solution. Kraft softwood lignins from LignoBoost (LBL) and CleanFlowBlack (CFBL) processes were used to understand the influence of molecular weight and functionality of initial lignins on the properties of the final hybrids. The synthesized materials were applied as adsorbents for the removal of MB from aqueous solutions. The effects of parameters such as contact time, initial concentration of dye and initial pH on the adsorption capacity were evaluated. The hybrids exhibited higher adsorption capacity than the initial macromolecules of lignin with respect to MB. The hybrid based on CFBL exhibited an adsorption capacity of 60 mg/g; this value was 30% higher than the capacity of the hybrid based on LBL, which was 41.6 mg/g. Lignin hybrid materials extract 80–99% of the dye in a pH range from 3 to 10. The equilibrium and kinetic characteristics of MB uptake by the hybrids followed the Langmuir isotherm model and pseudo-second-order model, rather than the Freundlich and Temkin models, the pseudo-first-order or the intraparticle diffusion model. The attachment of the dye to the hybrid surface was confirmed via FE-SEM and FTIR spectroscopy. The mechanism for MB adsorption was proposed. Due to the high values of regeneration efficiency of the surface of both lignin-silica hybrid materials in 0.1 M HCl (up to 75%) and ethanol (99%), they could be applied as effective sorbents in industrial wastewater treatment processes.