Abstract
To remove the pollutant methylene blue (MB) from water, a sheet-like skeleton carbon derived from shaddock peels (SPACs) was prepared by NaOH activation followed by a calcination procedure under nitrogen protection in this study. Characterization results demonstrated that the as-prepared SPACs displayed a hierarchically porous structure assembled with a thin sheet-like carbon layer, and the surface area of SPAC-8 (activated by 8 g NaOH) was up to 782.2 m2/g. The as-prepared carbon material presented an ultra-fast and efficient adsorption capacity towards MB due to its macro-mesoporous structure, high surface area, and abundant functional groups. SPAC-8 showed ultrafast and efficient removal capacity for MB dye. Adsorption equilibrium was reached within 1 min with a removal efficiency of 99.6% at an initial concentration of 100 mg/g under batch adsorption model conditions. The maximum adsorption capacity for MB was up to 432.5 mg/g. A pseudo-second-order kinetic model and a Langmuir isotherm model described the adsorption process well, which suggested that adsorption rate depended on chemisorption and the adsorption process was controlled by a monolayer adsorption, respectively. Furthermore, column adsorption experiments showed that 96.58% of MB was removed after passing through a SPAC-8 packed column with a flow rate of 20 mL/min, initial concentration of 50 mg/L, and adsorbent dosage of 5 mg. The as-prepared adsorbent displays potential value in practical applications for dye removal due to its ultrafast and efficient adsorption capacity.
Highlights
The rapid development of synthetic dyes has efficiently promoted the industrial growth in applications such as the leather, paint, textile and other industries
5 mg of adsorbents were filled to plastic columns with heights of 6 mm, and methylene blue (MB) solutions with initial concentration of 10–200 mg/L were passed through the column at a volumetric flow rate of 20 mL/min
Adsorbents through the column were analyzed by using UV-vis spectrophotometer at a wavelength of 662 nm
Summary
The rapid development of synthetic dyes has efficiently promoted the industrial growth in applications such as the leather, paint, textile and other industries. The prepared activated carbon presented a high adsorption capacity for Rhodamine B dye with an equilibrium time of 12 h. Auta et al [17] investigated the removal capacity of methylene blue (MB) and acid blue 29 (AB29) dyes by waste tea-derived activated carbon Their results showed that waste tea activated carbon presented a maximum adsorption capacity of 554.30 and 453.12 mg/g for MB and AB29 with an equilibrium time of about 12 h. Numerous works towards dye removal by biomass derived activated carbon materials have been studied, and an efficient dye adsorption capacity demonstrated. The adsorbents for rapid pollutant removal from water are very much limited to advanced materials, including porous polymers, mesoporous silica, MOF-based adsorbents, etc., which would result in higher use cost than the use of biomass-derived carbon materials as adsorbents in practical applications. This study provides an efficient approach to the removal of dye pollutants from water
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