Abstract
Scientific management of wastewater sludge generated from biological wastewater treatment is necessary owing to its high moisture content and poor dewaterability. In this investigation, hydrothermal carbonization technique was implemented as a potential solution for wastewater sludge management. To further improve the surface properties of wastewater sludge-derived hydrochar (synthesized at 250 ℃ for 4 h of reaction time), three activation techniques, namely physical, alkali, and alkali followed by acid activation were implemented. The effect of three activation techniques on the properties of hydrochar was investigated using physico-chemical characterization techniques. The sludge-derived hydrochar activated with KOH (1:1 by weight) followed by HCl treatment (1 M) (HC-KA) showcased highly porous structured material having a surface area of 1119 m2 g–1, which was highest amongst the other activation methods chosen in this investigation. Thus, HC-KA was utilized as an adsorbent to evaluate the adsorptive removal of methylene blue (MB). The MB adsorption process followed Langmuir isotherm (R2 of 0.996) with a maximum adsorption capacity of 192.7 mg g–1 and pseudo-second-order reaction kinetics. The results demonstrated that wastewater sludge-derived activated hydrochar can be considered a promising material as an adsorbent in wastewater treatment.
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