Carbon Adsorbents Obtained from Pistachio Nut Shells Used as Potential Ingredients of Drinking Water Filters

Abstract

Water resources are increasingly degraded due to the discharge of waste generated in municipal, industrial and agricultural areas. Therefore, the search for new materials enabling the effective treatment of drinking water and sewage is currently of great interest. This paper deals with the adsorption of organic and inorganic pollutants on the surface of carbonaceous adsorbents prepared by thermochemical conversion of common pistachio nut shells. The influence of the direct physical activation with CO2 and chemical activation with H3PO4 on parameters, such as elemental composition, textural parameters, acidic–basic character of the surface as well as electrokinetic properties of the prepared carbonaceous materials was checked. The suitability of the activated biocarbons prepared as the adsorbents of iodine, methylene blue and poly(acrylic acid) from the aqueous solutions was estimated. The sample obtained via chemical activation of the precursor turned out to be much more effective in terms of all the tested pollutants adsorption. Its maximum sorption capacity toward iodine was 1059 mg/g, whereas in relation to methylene blue and poly(acrylic acid) 183.1 mg/g and 207.9 mg/g was achieved, respectively. For both carbonaceous materials, a better fit to the experimental data was achieved with a Langmuir isotherm than a Freundlich one. It has also been shown that the efficiency of organic dye, and especially anionic polymer adsorption from aqueous solutions, is significantly affected by solution pH and temperature of the adsorbate–adsorbent system.

Aminated Rapeseed Husks (Brassica napus) as an Effective Sorbent for Removing Anionic Dyes from Aqueous Solutions

“…q-instantaneous value of the sorbed dye [mg/g] q e -the amount of dye sorbed at the equilibrium state The experimental data obtained from studies on the maximum sorption capacity of the analyzed sorbents were described using three popular sorption models: the Langmuir 1 isotherm (5) [62], the Langmuir 2 isotherm (Langmuir double isotherm) (6) [63], and the Freundlich isotherm (7) [62].…”

“…The most popular sorbents today include activated carbons [ 5 ], which consist mainly of elemental carbon, the characteristic feature of which is a very extensive surface area, exceeding 500 m 2 /g [ 6 ]. These sorbents have been proved effective in removing most industrial dyes [ 7 ]. Spent activated carbons can be regenerated several times [ 8 ]; however, their significant drawback is the high cost of their production and regeneration and, consequently, their high market price [ 9 ].…”

A Study on the Adsorption of Rhodamine B onto Adsorbents Prepared from Low-Carbon Fossils: Kinetic, Isotherm, and Thermodynamic Analyses

“…However, the activated carbons obtained had considerably lower sorption capacities for iodine when compared to commercially available carbons on the market. Carbons such as Norit SX2 and WD-12 possess a more developed specific surface in contrast to the LA and SA samples, which undoubtedly contributes to their sorption capacity [ 20 ]. Therefore, future research should concentrate on producing carbon adsorbents with significantly enhanced specific surface areas and porous structures.…”

The Influence of Oxidation and Nitrogenation on the Physicochemical Properties and Sorption Capacity of Activated Biocarbons Prepared from the Elderberry Inflorescence

“…The remaining part of the precursor was subjected to chemical activation with orthophosphoric acid (C sample). The parameters for the thermochemical treatment of the precursor were selected based on our previous studies, described in detail in [ 41 , 61 ]. Direct activation was carried in the one-heating-zone laboratory furnace, equipped with a quartz tubular reactor (Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc., Waltham, MA, USA).…”