Surface-modified Water Hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) over Activated Carbon for Wastewater Treatment: A Comparative Account

Abstract

Finding an economical, efficient and easy handling alternative for commercial grade activated charcoal (AC) in textile wastewater treatment is a dire need. To address this, a noxious weed water hyacinth (WH) has been explored as a 'biosorbent' for the decolorization of the hazardous textile dye, Remazol Brilliant Red 3BS (RBR 3BS) in wastewater. A novel surface modification has been carried out using the quaternary ammonium salt, N-Cetyl-N,N,N-trimethyl ammonium bromide, to enhance the dye decolorization capacity of raw WH. The impact of several process parameters, viz. pH, dosage of adsorbent, temperature, concentration and contact time have been examined. Batch adsorption studies, kinetic-thermodynamics, isothermal modelling and error analysis have been studied to ascertain the efficacy of the adsorbent. A comparison of the results has been carried out with activated carbon (AC). Surface-modified WH showed the highest dye uptake of 104.26 mg g-1 , at 27°C, which was about 10 times more than that of AC. Isothermal, kinetic and thermodynamic studies were conducted for identification of adsorption type taking place for dye-adsorbent systems. Energy of activation was 8.65 kJ mol-1 for treated WH and 8.98 kJ mol-1 for AC. It was proven that surface-modified WH had a high capability to replace AC for adsorption treatments.

Adsorption of chromium from electroplating wastewater using activated carbon developed from water hyacinth

“…Based on this approach, the specific surface area of the adsorbent before adsorption was found to be 203.83 m 2 /g. This value of the surface area is high and has a high potential to remediate water and wastewater [ 28 , 35 ]. Fundamentally, the high specific surface area, fixed carbon composition, and low ash content are the precondition for good adsorbent to interact with multifunctionality pollutants that could be found in water and wastewater systems.…”

“…The measurement of was performed using 1 g of activated water hyacinth adsorbent which was placed in 50 mL solution in Erlenmeyer flasks for the time of 48 h and the pH of the Solution was adjusted using the solution of 0.01 M HCl and 0.01 M NaOH in the range of the 2 to 12 pH. Finally, the value of the was determined from the intercept of pH final and pH initial curves [ 35 , 43 ].…”

“…This pellet was analyzed using FTIR spectroscopy at the range of wavelength of 500–4000 cm −1 . Accordingly, the most common scanning rate in many researchers was 32 times/min and resolution can be varied according to the interest of the researcher [ 23 , 35 ].…”

“…This biosorbent was modified chemically through alkali (NaOH), acid, and peroxide and has been proven to enhance the efficacy of the adsorbents. Water hyacinth biosorbent can also be modified by using the quaternary ammonium salt, N-Cetyl-N, N, N–trimethyl ammonium bromide for the decolorization of the hazardous textile dye [ 35 ]. The biochar of this plant was effective in the removal of heavy metals like Cd which was reported in the range of from 24.2 to 45.8 mg/g even though it can reach up to 70 mg/g [ 36 ].…”

Integrated textile effluent treatment method

“…Raw root, stem, and leaves powder of both weeds thus produced were mixed separately with 0.5% aqueous solution of quaternary ammonium salt, N‐Cetyl N‐N‐N trimethyl ammonium bromide at room temperature for about 30 min. The treatment caused surface activation of weed adsorbents due to ion‐pair formation at the raw adsorbent surface, making it surface reactive for anionic dye ions (Bapat & Jaspal, 2020). After this treatment, the adsorbents were filtered and dried at 105°C and stored in airtight containers for experimental purposes.…”