High Surface Area Nanoporous Activated Carbons Materials from Areca catechu Nut with Excellent Iodine and Methylene Blue Adsorption

Nanoporous carbon materials from biomass exhibit a high surface area due to well-defined pore structures. Therefore, they have been extensively used in separation and purification technologies as efficient adsorbents. Here, we report the iodine and methylene blue adsorption properties of the hierarchically porous carbon materials prepared from Areca catechu nut. The preparation method involves the phosphoric acid (H3PO4) activation of the Areca catechu nut powder. The effects of carbonization conditions (mixing ratio with H3PO4, carbonization time, and carbonization temperature) on the textural properties and surface functional groups were studied. The optimum textural properties were obtained at a mixing ratio of 1:1, carbonized for 3 h at 400 °C, and the sample achieved a high specific surface area of 2132.1 m2 g−1 and a large pore volume of 3.426 cm3 g−1, respectively. The prepared materials have amorphous carbon structures and contain oxygenated surface functional groups. Due to the well-defined micro-and mesopore structures with the high surface area and large pore volume, the optimal sample showed excellent iodine and methylene blue adsorption. The iodine number and methylene blue values were ca. 888 mg g−1 and 369 mg g−1, respectively. The batch adsorption studies of methylene dye were affected by pH, adsorbent dose, contact time, and initial concentration. The optimum parameters for the methylene blue adsorption were in alkaline pH, adsorbent dose of 2.8 g L−1, and contact time of 180 min. Equilibrium data could be best represented by the Langmuir isotherm model with a monolayer adsorption capacity of 333.3 mg g−1. Thus, our results demonstrate that the Areca catechu nut has considerable potential as the novel precursor material for the scalable production of high surface area hierarchically porous carbon materials that are essential in removing organic dyes from water.

Modelling and Optimizing the Removal of Methylene Blue by a Mixture of Titaniferous Sand and Attapulgite Using Complete Factorial Design

This paper focuses on the removal of methylene blue by adsorption using a mixture of titaniferous sand and attapulgite. The different adsorbents were characterized by X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy and their different parameters such as pH, zero charge potential, and specific surface area were determined. The experiments performed were optimized and modeled by a full 2-level and 4-factor design. The four factors are the ratio of titaniferous sand and attapulgite, the concentration of methylene blue, pH, and time. These vary from 4 to 19, 20 to 100 mg/L, 2 to 9, and 30 to 150 min respectively. The study of the effects of the different factors showed that the effect of methylene blue concentration and pH significantly influence the adsorption capacity and removal efficiency of the dye. The optimum parameters (adsorbent ratio, adsorbate concentration, pH and time) obtained for the adsorption capacity through the desirability function are: 19, 100mg/L, 9 and 150min. Those obtained for the yield are: 4, 100mg/L, 9, 150min. The pseudo second order adsorption kinetics gave an equilibrium adsorption capacity qe (calculated) = 7.6863 mg/g which is almost equal to that obtained experimentally qe (exp) = 7.3562 mg/g. This shows that the pseudo second order kinetic model is the adequate mathematical model to describe the methylene blue adsorption phenomenon on the mixture of titaniferous sand and attapulgite. The thermodynamic study showed that the methylene blue adsorption reaction is exothermic, non-spontaneous, and the degree of disorder of the particles at the adsorbing surface decreases.