Preparation of a New Adsorbent Material from Agro-Industrial Waste and Comparison with Commercial Adsorbent for Emerging Contaminant Removal

Abstract

An adsorbent was developed from agro-industrial residues derived from the seed husks of Moringa oleifera Lam., in which the hydrochar process was used as it is a sustainable, low-cost and easy-to-operate process. In comparison, a commercial adsorbent, activated charcoal from babaçu coconut, was used. Both materials were characterized using SEM, FTIR, zeta potential and BET, showing their morphologies, chemical compositions and textural analyses that proved the adsorption capacity of each material. A cost study was also carried out regarding the production of the materials. For both materials, an equilibrium study was carried out using the following contaminants: metformin, diuron, methylene blue and lead. We aimed to study the use of agro-industrial waste as a new adsorbent material, which was shown to have an average removal for all the contaminants tested of around 84.56–99.13%. The new adsorbent developed had many interactions with the studied contaminants, allowing its use on a large scale since its production cost was low. The main objective of this study was thus to compare a commercial activated charcoal with a biosorbent from agro-industrial waste, prepared by the hydrochar method.