Modified Activated Carbon with Zinc Oxide Nanoparticles Produced from Used Tire for Removal of Acid Green 25 from Aqueous Solutions

Abstract

Modified activated carbon with zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO-n) as carbonaceous adsorbents was prepared by chemical and heat treatment of the used tire in N2 atmosphere. Heat impregnation method was used to modifying the activated carbon with ZnO-n. In fact, Chemical activation, carbonization and heat activation of raw material were toke place in the presence of ZnO-n. The produced carbon sample before modification show specific surface area (SBET) 19.271 m2 g-1 and pour volume (Vp) of 0.273 mL g-1 and after modification the cited parameters were 90.469 m2 g-1 and 0.427 mL g-1 respectively. The SEM images of adsorbent materials later and after impregnation showed excellent differences that lead to increasing the sorption properties related to non-modified activated carbon adsorbent. The prepared samples were studied as adsorbents for removal acid green 25 in aqueous solutions. Amount of adsorbent, dye concentration, time of process and pH of aqueous solutions as effective parameters were optimized. Modified adsorbent showed better results than the non-modified adsorbent and sorption capacity using the Langmuir isotherm was 111.3 and 306.8 mg g-1 for acid green 25 sorption on non-modified and modified adsorbent respectively. This study showed the potential ability of used tire as abundant raw material to production of activated carbon adsorbent and modification of it with Zno-n to increase the sorption properties.