Adsorption Studies of Volatile Organic Compound (Naphthalene) from Aqueous Effluents: Chemical Activation Process Using Weak Lewis Acid, Equilibrium Kinetics and Isotherm Modelling

Adeola A Akinpelu; Zaira Zaman Chowdhury; Shahjalal Mohd Shibly; Abu Nasser Mohd Faisal; Irfan Anjum Badruddin; Md Mahfujur Rahman; Md Al Amin; Suresh Sagadevan; Omid Akbarzadeh; T M Yunus Khan; Sarfaraz Kamangar; Khalisanni Khalid; R Saidur; Mohd Rafie Johan

doi:10.3390/ijms22042090

Adsorption Studies of Volatile Organic Compound (Naphthalene) from Aqueous Effluents: Chemical Activation Process Using Weak Lewis Acid, Equilibrium Kinetics and Isotherm Modelling

Int J Mol Sci. 2021 Feb 19;22(4):2090. doi: 10.3390/ijms22042090.

Authors

Adeola A Akinpelu^{1

2}, Zaira Zaman Chowdhury¹, Shahjalal Mohd Shibly¹, Abu Nasser Mohd Faisal¹, Irfan Anjum Badruddin^{3

4}, Md Mahfujur Rahman⁵, Md Al Amin⁶, Suresh Sagadevan¹, Omid Akbarzadeh¹, T M Yunus Khan³, Sarfaraz Kamangar³, Khalisanni Khalid^{7

8}, R Saidur⁹, Mohd Rafie Johan¹

Affiliations

¹ Nanotechnology and Catalysis Research Center, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur 50603, Malaysia.
² Center of Environment and Water, King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, Dhahran 34464, Saudi Arabia.
³ Department of Mechanical Engineering, College of Engineering, King Khalid University, P.O. Box 394, Abha 61421, Saudi Arabia.
⁴ Research Center of Advanced Materials and Science (RCAMS), King Khalid University, P.O. Box 9004, Abha 61413, Asir, Saudi Arabia.
⁵ Islamic Business School, University Utara Malaysia, Kedah 06010, Malaysia.
⁶ Global Centre for Environmental Remediation (GCER), University of Newcastle, Callaghan, NSW 2308, Australia.
⁷ Malaysian Agricultural Research & Development Institute (MARDI), Serdang 43000, Malaysia.
⁸ Biocomposite Technology Laboratory, Institute of Tropical Forestry and Forest Product (INTROP), University Putra Malaysia (UPM), Serdang 43400, Selangor, Malaysia.
⁹ Research Centre for Nano-Materials and Energy Technology (RCNMET), School of Science and Technology, Sunway University, No. 5, Jalan Universiti, Bandar Sunway, Petaling Jaya 47500, Malaysia.

Abstract

This study deals with the preparation of activated carbon (CDSP) from date seed powder (DSP) by chemical activation to eliminate polyaromatic hydrocarbon-PAHs (naphthalene-C₁₀H₈) from synthetic wastewater. The chemical activation process was carried out using a weak Lewis acid of zinc acetate dihydrate salt (Zn(CH₃CO₂)₂·2H₂O). The equilibrium isotherm and kinetics analysis was carried out using DSP and CDSP samples, and their performances were compared for the removal of a volatile organic compound-naphthalene (C₁₀H₈)-from synthetic aqueous effluents or wastewater. The equilibrium isotherm data was analyzed using the linear regression model of the Langmuir, Freundlich and Temkin equations. The R² values for the Langmuir isotherm were 0.93 and 0.99 for naphthalene (C₁₀H₈) adsorption using DSP and CDSP, respectively. CDSP showed a higher equilibrium sorption capacity (q_e) of 379.64 µg/g. DSP had an equilibrium sorption capacity of 369.06 µg/g for C₁₀H₈. The rate of reaction was estimated for C₁₀H₈ adsorption using a pseudo-first order, pseudo-second order and Elovich kinetic equation. The reaction mechanism for both the sorbents (CDSP and DSP) was studied using the intraparticle diffusion model. The equilibrium data was well-fitted with the pseudo-second order kinetics model showing the chemisorption nature of the equilibrium system. CDSP showed a higher sorption performance than DSP due to its higher BET surface area and carbon content. Physiochemical characterizations of the DSP and CDSP samples were carried out using the BET surface area analysis, Fourier-scanning microscopic analysis (FSEM), energy-dispersive X-ray (EDX) analysis and Fourier-transform spectroscopic analysis (FTIR). A thermogravimetric and ultimate analysis was also carried out to determine the carbon content in both the sorbents (DSP and CDSP) here. This study confirms the potential of DSP and CDSP to remove C₁₀H₈ from lab-scale synthetic wastewater.

Keywords: activated carbon; chemical activation process; date seeds (DS); volatile organic compound (napththalene-C10H8); water purification; weak Lewis acid.

MeSH terms

Adsorption
Diffusion
Kinetics
Lewis Acids / chemistry*
Linear Models
Models, Molecular*
Naphthalenes / analysis*
Nitrogen / chemistry
Spectrometry, X-Ray Emission
Temperature*
Thermogravimetry
Time Factors
Volatile Organic Compounds / analysis*
Water Pollutants, Chemical / analysis*

Substances

Lewis Acids
Naphthalenes
Volatile Organic Compounds
Water Pollutants, Chemical
Nitrogen