Abstract
The purpose of the present work was to synthesize a novel mesoporous activated carbon from an invasive weed to investigate its potential application for removal of the emerging organic contaminants in waters. The worldwide highly consumable non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID); ibuprofen (Ibu), was chosen for the study due to its toxicity and global occurrence in waters. Keeping this in mind, Artemisia vulgaris (common name: Mugwort) leaves were processed by physical and chemical activation to obtain the mesoporous honeycomb-structured activated carbon (MAC) to mitigate Ibu. To understand the activity of the activated carbon towards contaminant, adsorption batch mode process was investigated for the solid-liquid phase characteristics of Ibu-water system. Both kinetic and equilibrium models were evaluated over a wide range of conditions to determine the rate laws and maximum Ibu uptake capacity. A decisive reliance of adsorption capacity on pH was observed in pH range from 2 to 9. The high surface area (358.20m2/g), mesoporosity (2.46nm) and surface functionality of MAC played significant role in Ibu uptake. Plausible mechanistic findings for adsorptive mitigation were substantiated by spectroscopic techniques viz. SEM, FTIR, EDX and ζ potentiometry.
Original language | English |
---|---|
Pages (from-to) | 537-544 |
Number of pages | 8 |
Journal | Chemical Engineering Journal |
Volume | 165 |
Issue number | 2 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 1 Dec 2010 |
Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- Ibuprofen
- Langmuir-Freundlich
- Mesoporous carbon
- Mugwort
- ζ Potential
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- General Chemistry
- Environmental Chemistry
- General Chemical Engineering
- Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering