The proposal of this work was the preparation and characterization of activated carbons obtained from water treatment plant sludge (WTS) to apply as adsorbents in the removal of organic dye contaminants from wastewater. The activated carbons were produced with a combination of chemical activation and pyrolysis processes. The textural characteristics of both adsorbents presented a satisfactory superficial area and mesoporous structure. The presence of phenolic and carboxylic groups in the surface indicated a better adsorption of cationic adsorbates. When applied as adsorbents in the removal of methylene blue (MB) from wastewater, the maximum removal values obtained were up to 96%. The adsorption results showed that the adsorption was faster in the beginning and reached maximum around 30 min. The Elovich kinetic model and the Sips isotherm model presented the best fit to experimental data, which was checked by analysis of variance (ANOVA). The production of activated carbons from WTS is a sustainable and effective option in the removal of MB dye.
The lack of adequate treatment for the removal of pollutants from domestic, hospital and industrial effluents has caused great environmental concern. Therefore, there is a need to develop materials that have the capacity to treat these effluents. This work aims to develop and characterize an activated charcoal from olive pomace, which is an agro-industrial residue, for adsorption of Nimesulide in liquid effluent and to evaluate the adsorption kinetics and equilibrium using experimental design. The raw material was oven dried at 105 °C for 24 h, ground, chemically activated in a ratio of 1:0.8:0.2 of olive pomace, zinc chloride and calcium hydroxide and thermally activated by pyrolysis in a reactor of stainless steel at 550 °C for 30 min. The activated carbon was characterized by Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, X-ray Diffractometry (XRD), Brunauer, Emmett and Teller (BET) method, Thermogravimetric Analysis (TGA), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), density and zero charge potential analysis. The surface area obtained was 650.9 m2 g−1. The kinetic and isothermal mathematical models that best described the adsorption were PSO and Freundlich and the highest adsorption capacity obtained was 353.27 mg g−1. The results obtained showed the good performance of activated carbon produced from olive pomace as an adsorbent material and demonstrated great potential for removing emerging contaminants such as Nimesulide.
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