Transformation of residual biomass into adsorbent materials: Applications to treatment of liquid effluents

Abstract

In this work, some adsorbent materials were prepared from residual biomass, which constitutes a real hazard for the environment and human health. So, in order to valorize this vegetal resource, a process of transformation was studied. The residual biomass was turned into adsorbent materials under the effect of chemical activation with phosphoric acid which allows the development of a large pore in the activated materials. The optimization of the conditions for the elaboration of our adsorbents was realized by experimental design by evaluating some parameters (percentage of phosphoric acid, temperature and time of activation) and their effects on the responses (capacity of adsorption of methylene blue, adsorbent yield), these parameters were selected after a screening study. The activation of our residual biomass was effected with 60% of phosphoric acid in 225°C while 115 min. The studied biomass was characterized by different physic-chemical methods (Differential Thermal Analysis /Thermogravimetric Analysis (DTA/TGA), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Raman and X-Ray Diffraction (XRD)); the results of characterization show the presence of the excellent textural and structural properties. The application of the best adsorbent in the removal of textile dyes (methylene blue) from aqueous solutions was studied. The impact of various parameters such as contact time, pH and concentration on the removal was evaluated by batch method. The adsorption isotherms were studied using Langmuir and Freundlich isotherm models. Langmuir isotherm provided the best fit to the equilibrium data with a correlation coefficient equal to 0.998. This result shows the presence of monolayer adsorption. The experiments demonstrated that the removal of methylene blue followed the pseudo-second-order kinetic model. The correlation coefficient is consistent and equal to unity, and the experimental qe value (44.17) was agreed with the calculated qe value (45.45) of pseudo-second-order then the value of pseudo-first-order which confirm a chemisorption process. The obtained results revealed that the elaborated material is an effective adsorbent for the removal of methylene blue.