Abstract
Vegetal biomasses are prominent adsorbents; however, their hydrophilicity is a limitation in removing some emerging contaminants from water. As an approach to overcome this, in this study, Luffa cylindrica (LF), a 3D natural fiber array biomass, was coated with polypyrrole/stearic acid (PPy/SAc) (LF-PPySAc) to increase its adsorption capacity towards sodium diclofenac (DCF). Characterization analyses demonstrated that the physicochemical, morphological, and wettability properties of LF changed due to the PPy/SAc coating. As a result, LF-PPySAc becomes hydrophobic (water contact angle >124°) benefiting the interaction with DCF. Experimentally, it was verified that the PPy/SAc coating enhances the adsorption of DCF by 234% (batch process) and 80% (continuous process) compared to raw LF. Kinetic, isothermal, and thermodynamics analyses indicated that the DCF adsorption is mediated mainly by physical forces (H-bonding, π-π interaction, and hydrophobic forces), and intraparticle diffusional processes are involved. The high stability of LF-PPySAc allowed its reuse at least five times without losing adsorption performance in both batch and continuous processes. Thus, the coating of LF with PPy/SAc is ranked as a promising approach to obtaining an adsorbent material with an enhanced capacity to remove hydrophobic contaminants from the aqueous medium.
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