A comparative study on the basis of adsorption capacity between CNTs and activated carbon as adsorbents for removal of noxious synthetic dyes: a review

Abstract

Rapid removal of noxious synthetic dyes from wastewater is of great concern in the scientific research field, this is due to the expansion of harmful effects of synthetic dyes traces in water streams on the environment and human health with the exponential rise in concentration of synthetic dye globally and demand in various industries that coincided with the implantation of more stringent water quality standards. Various technologies have been applied for the removal of synthetic dye from wastewater, including adsorption technology, which has a great potential in treating varieties of synthetic dyes. This article comprehensively reviews the latest progress in the development of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and their applications for the removal of synthetic dyes from wastewater, including functionalized of CNTs and their researched counterparts. The emerging trends in the development of alternative adsorbents with different substrates, morphologies, and functional groups are also elucidated.

The role of nanomaterials as effective adsorbents and their applications in wastewater treatment

“…AC typically has high porosity, high surface area, and can be prepared from readily available carbonaceous precursors such as coal, wood, coconut shells and agricultural wastes [72][73][74][75]. AC is extensively used for the removal of inorganic and organic pollutants from effluent streams and in water treatment [22]. In addition, it possesses a significantly weak acidic ion exchange character, enabling it to remove metal contaminants and to adsorb pollutants from wastewater [22].…”

“…AC is extensively used for the removal of inorganic and organic pollutants from effluent streams and in water treatment [22]. In addition, it possesses a significantly weak acidic ion exchange character, enabling it to remove metal contaminants and to adsorb pollutants from wastewater [22]. The sorption of pentavalent arsenic on granular activated carbon (GAC) was experimentally studied [75].…”

“…2), which were first developed by Iijima [77], have a unique structural, electronic, optoelectronic, and semiconductor, as well as mechanical, chemical and physical properties [22,23]. CNTs have been applied widely to remove heavy metals and dyes in wastewater treatment [6, 7, 9, 11-16, 41, 71, 78-82].…”

“…For this purpose, conventional methods such as reduction, precipitation, adsorption, oxidation and ion exchange are commonly used. However, among them the adsorption process is the most suitable method because of its high efficiency and economic consideration [22][23][24][25][26]. Such adsorbents such as activated carbon (AC), zeolites, biomaterials, polymers, have been used extensively for wastewater treatment [22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31].…”

Adsorption of Ammonium Ions onto Multi-Walled Carbon Nanotubes

“…Such materials have already played a key role in the effective removal of several organic contaminants from water [16]. For example, MWCNTs are much more effective in the removal of organic chemicals from wastewater than activated carbon [17,18].…”