Agricultural waste can be exploited for the adsorption of dyes, due to their low cost, availability, cost-effectiveness, and efficiency. In this study, we were interested in the elimination of crystal violet dye, from aqueous solutions, by adsorption on almond shell-based material, as a low-cost and ecofriendly adsorbent. The almond shells were first analyzed by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and X-ray diffraction; then, the influence of adsorbent dose, initial dye concentration time, and pH were studied to assess adsorption capacity under optimal experimental conditions. Experimental results indicate that almond shell adsorbent removes about 83% of the dye from the solutions at room temperature and in batch mode; the kinetic study showed that the equilibrium time is about 90 min, and the model of pseudo-second order could very well describe adsorption kinetics. The modulation of adsorption isotherms showed that retention follows the Langmuir model. The thermodynamic study has shown that the adsorption is endothermic (ΔH° > 0) and spontaneous (ΔG° < 0).

In recent years, the removal of dyes has emerged as a significant problem that attracted several researchers. The search for green and eco-friendly adsorbents has been a never-ending task in environmental protection to overcome this issue. Herein, almond shells (AS) were used as an adsorbent to remove methyl orange (MO) from aqueous solutions. The AS was characterized using several techniques such as X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscope (SEM), and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). Adsorption experiments were carried out under different pH, temperature, and AS particle size conditions. Kinetic and isothermal studies revealed that MO adsorption on the AS reached equilibrium at 90 min, following the pseudo-second-order (PSO) kinetic model. The Langmuir adsorption isotherm was found the suitable adsorption model for MO adsorption on AS, showing a maximum adsorption capacity of 15.63 mg/g. Thermodynamic parameters such as the change in standard enthalpy (ΔH°), the change in standard entropy (ΔS°), and the change in standard free energy (ΔG°) indicated that the MO dye adsorption process is non-spontaneous, endothermic, and physical, which was further confirmed from FTIR analysis of AS samples after adsorption. The contaminated sludge was converted into biochar by slow pyrolysis at a temperature of 400 °C for 2 h. Biochar has been exploited for the manufacture of combustible briquettes.

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Phenol is one of the most toxic pollutants found in industrial waste. This work focuses on the removal of phenol using clay from the Sale region. Adsorbent was characterized by X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, infrared spectroscopy, and scanning electron microscopy. The chemical analysis of this clay shows that the percentage of silicon and aluminium is quite high, and the percentage of calcium and iron is relatively high, so this material is rich in muscovite, quartz, and calcite. In addition to the presence of titanium dioxide (TiO2), which can give it a property of degradation of organic compounds under ultraviolet light, the pHPZC zero point of our material is 7.4. The results showed that the adsorption of phenol was well fitted by the pseudo-second-order kinetic model and the Langmuir and Freundlich isotherms and that the best retention is obtained at a pH between 3 and 8.