Pineapple Peel Waste Adsorbent for Adsorption of Fe(III)

Abstract

The current study discovers the capability of pineapple peel, which is an agricultural effluent, to be converted into adsorbent to be used in the removal of Fe(III). The adsorbent was prepared from pineapple peel waste using a chemical activation method impregnated with zinc chloride (ZnCl2), and the morphological and functional characterisation of the adsorbent was performed using FTIR and SEM. SEM images show rough surfaces of raw pineapple peel with creases. After the chemical treatment, substances in the pineapple peel waste such as pigments and acid-soluble oligosaccharides were removed, leading to the porous structure. Raw pineapple peel contained more functional groups, including the O–H stretching vibration at 3300 cm−1 and the C–H vibration at 2917 cm−1, compared to the adsorbent with the fading of some characteristic peaks. The ability of the adsorbent to remove Fe(III) ions at different contact times and adsorbent dosages was studied. As the contact time and adsorbent dosage were increased, the adsorption capacity also increased. The results show the potential use of pineapple peel waste as an effective adsorbent for the treatment of wastewater in removing of Fe(III) ions