Green removal of Basic Blue 41 using activated carbon prepared from bitter orange (Citrus aurantium) peel: optimization and mechanism investigation
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.64354/mdcfm162Keywords:
bitter orange peel, green wastewater treatment, adsorption isotherm, activated carbonAbstract
The discharge of synthetic dyes from textile and associated industries is still a serious environmental problem. There is considerable interest in the conversion of agricultural leftovers to cheap and effective adsorbents. In this work, activated carbon was prepared from the peel of bitter orange (Citrus aurantium) by chemical activation with ZnCl2 and its adsorption ability for the cationic dye Basic Blue 41 (BB41) from aqueous solution was studied. FTIR, XRD and FESEM characterisation of the prepared carbon (CAP-AC) indicated that the surface was oxygen-rich, very porous and mostly amorphous. Batch tests were conducted to optimise the essential operating variables including solution pH, adsorbent dosage, starting concentration, contact time and temperature. The maximum uptake was achieved at pH ~ 9, where the negatively charged surface (pHₚᴢᴄ=6.2) was conducive to electrostatic attraction to the protonated dye. The equilibrium data was best described by the Langmuir model, which corresponds to a monolayer capacity of 256.4 mg g-1 at 318 K, although the kinetics followed the pseudo second-order expression. Thermodynamic studies revealed that the reaction was spontaneous and endothermic (ΔH° = +21.7 kJ mol-1). The mechanistic interpretation revealed that the sorption was performed through the coaction of electrostatic contact, π-π stacking, hydrogen bonding and pore filling. The carbon retained about 82% of its initial efficiency after five regeneration cycles. These findings confirm that bitter orange peel, an abundant and otherwise discarded by-product, can be converted into an efficient and environmentally friendly adsorbent for the treatment of dye-laden wastewater.
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