Recycling solid industrial wastes into valuable materials is always the priority solution in waste management. In this perspective, sugar scum and fly ash were used to produce an effective low-cost porous ceramic membrane. The impacts of the sintering temperature, amount of sugar scum, and sintering time on the properties of the prepared ceramic membrane were investigated and optimized using experimental design. A simultaneous rise in both the sintering temperature and the amount of sugar scum leads to a notable increase in porosity. Moreover, the simultaneous increase or decrease in the time and the amount of sugar scum causes a significant decrease in the compressive strength. The optimal conditions have been determined as a sintering temperature of 1197 °C, a sugar scum amount of 12.06 %, and a sintering time of 253 min. Under these conditions, the density, porosity, and compressive strength were found to be 2.16 g/cm³, 34.66 %, and 28.24 MPa, respectively. In addition, the obtained ceramic membrane has a water permeability of 2356.68 L/h m2 bar, a pore size in the range 0–4.5 μm, and excellent chemical resistance in both acidic and basic media. Finally, the performance of the prepared ceramic membrane was evaluated by the filtration of methylene blue. The results indicate that sugar scum and fly ash are suitable precursors to manufacture an effective ceramic membrane for the treatment of wastewater.
In recent years, the removal of dyes from wastewater has attracted considerable attention due to their harmful effects to ecosystem and human health. Adsorption as a facile and effective technique has been widely used to eliminate a large variety of dyes from aqueous solutions. Activated carbon is the most preferred adsorbent to treat wastewater but its use is limited because of high cost. Therefore, several low-cost and natural materials and wastes have been used as precursors for the preparation of alternative adsorbents. Among them, sawdust as an abundant and low-cost by-product has been explored as adsorbent for the removal of dyes from wastewater. This review focuses on the various sawdust used as a precursor for the preparation of activated carbons. Extensive literature information about sawdust, its compositions, activation methods, its efficiency for dyes removal, and environmental conditions effects has been reviewed. The applicability of various adsorption kinetic models and adsorption isotherm models for dye removal by sawdust-derived activated carbons has been also reported. Finally, this paper highlights the use of sawdust as base material for various composites and mixture which can be used as granular activated carbon.
In the present study, batch adsorption experiments were carried out to investigate the removal of methyl orange (MO) from aqueous solution using sugar scum powder as an effective inorganic adsorbent which is a cheap precursor and abundant. The characteristics of this material were determined using XRD, SEM/EDX, and FTIR. The adsorption performance of sugar scum powder was evaluated using MO as the model adsorbate. Effects of various parameters such as initial dye concentration, contact time, and adsorbent dose were studied. The adsorption process can be best described by the pseudo-second-order kinetic and Langmuir adsorption isotherm models. Maximum monolayer adsorption capacity for MO removal was found to be 15.24 mg/g at temperature 22°C and pH 7.2. Moreover, thermodynamic parameters suggested that the adsorption of MO onto sugar scum powder was a spontaneous and exothermic process. The results demonstrated that sugar scum is a suitable precursor for the preparation of efficient adsorbent for dye removal from wastewater.
Batch adsorption experiments have been conducted to investigate the removal of methyl orange from aqueous solution by an activated carbon prepared from prickly pear seed cake by phosphoric acid activation. The adsorption process has been described by using kinetic and isotherm models. The kinetic of adsorption was examined by pseudo-first-order, pseudo-second-order, and intraparticle diffusion models. Adsorption isotherm was modeled using Langmuir, Freundlich, Temkin and Dubinin–Radushkevich isotherms. The adsorption process of methyl orange was well explained by the pseudo-second-order model and Freundlich isotherm. Also, pseudo- n -order model has been applied to estimate the order of adsorption kinetic and it was found equal to 2 which confirm the good accuracy of the pseudo-second order. Moreover, Dubinin–Radushkevich isotherm reveals that the adsorption of methyl orange onto activated carbon was a physisorption process in nature. The adsorption capacity of activated carbon was found to be 336.12 mg/g at temperature 20°C andpH∼7. These results demonstrated that the prickly pear seed cake is a suitable precursor for the preparation of appropriate activated carbon for dyes removal from aqueous solution.
'/%3e%3cpath d='m450 224.315-44.467 136.87 116.401-84.559h-143.87l116.403 84.559z' style='fill:none;stroke:%23006233;stroke-width:14.62993431;stroke-miterlimit:4;stroke-dasharray:none'/%3e%3c/svg%3e)
