Sulfuric acid modified avocado seed
(ASSA), as a low-cost carbonized
adsorbent, was investigated for the removal of toxic Cr(VI) from water/wastewater
in batch experiments. A low temperature (100 °C) chemical carbonization
treatment was employed for the production of the adsorbent. FE-SEM
and HR-TEM images revealed the formation of agglomerated and rodlike
structured particles after carbonization of avocado seed. BET and
TGA analyses of ASSA demonstrated its mesoporous structure and thermal
stability up to 200 °C. The presence of oxo-functional groups
on the ASSA surface was confirmed by ATR-FTIR and XPS studies. Adsorption
of Cr(VI) onto ASSA was highly pH dependent and found to be an optimum
at pH 2.0. Adsorption isotherm results suggested that the capacity
increases with an increase in temperature. Nonlinear regression analysis
revealed that the Freundlich isotherm model provides a better correlation
than the Langmuir isotherm model for Cr(VI) adsorption onto ASSA.
The maximum Cr(VI) adsorption capacity of 333.33 mg/g was obtained
at 25 °C, which is higher than most of the previously reported
carbonized adsorbents used for Cr(VI) removal. Adsorption kinetics
was best described by the pseudo-second-order model. The presence
of coexisting ions slightly affected the Cr(VI) removal efficiency
of ASSA. Experiment with real wastewater sample containing 47.34 mg/L
of Cr(VI) demonstrated that by the use of only 0.03 g/25 mL of ASSA,
almost 100% removal was achieved at pH 2.0, which suggests its potential
application in wastewater treatment plants. The ASSA retained its
original Cr(VI) sorption capacity up to three consecutive adsorption–desorption
cycles. Finally, from XPS analysis, electrostatic attraction of Cr(VI)
species to the adsorbent and its subsequent reduction to Cr(III) were
identified as the leading removal mechanisms.
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