Role of Co and Ni ferrites in the fabrication of Saccharum officinarum bioadsorbents for removing As(III)

Abstract

Removal of arsenic from drinking water is one of the most significant worldwide concerns. Adsorptive removal of arsenic is highly practical and efficient among the various methods. The green synthesis using sugarcane extract was eco-friendly, and cost-effective and resulted in adsorbents having magnetic behavior and a high capacity for arsenic. In the present study, activated carbon (ACs) of sugarcane and its surface, functionalized with nickel ferrite (AC/NFO) and cobalt ferrite (AC/CFO) were used as biosorbents for the removal of As(III) from aqueous medium. The functionalization was undertaken in a controlled hydrothermal method using Saccharum officinarum (sugarcane) extract as a green source. The morphology, functionality, thermal stability, structure, magnetic behavior, surface area and porosity of adsorbents were confirmed by SEM, FTIR, TGA, XRD, VSM, BJH and AFM. The sorption behavior was determined with the effect of pH, time, concentration, temperature and dose. Pseudo-second order and Langmuir models were found suitable to validate the sorption data. Thermodynamics of the sorption process and the desorption studies suggested that the governing mechanism is chemisorption. The adsorption capacities for AC2, AC2C2 and AC2N2 were 961 µg/g, 1103 µg/g and 1000 µg/g respectively. Among the studied samples, AC2C2 was found as a potential candidate due to its high adsorptive efficiency of 97 % for As(III).