Parametric Study on the Adsorption of Methyl Orange from Model Paint Wastewater using Activated Carbon from Pineapple Peels
Author : Babiera, Bryan Angelo Casaclang
Major Adviser : Capunitan, Jewel A.
Committee Members : Laurio, Michael Vincent O.; Detras, Monet Concepcion M.
Year : 2017
Month : July
Type : Thesis
Degree: BS
Related Articles:
Keywords:
This manuscript can be accessed: Only after the consultation with author or adviser
Abstract
Activated carbon from pineapple peels was used to remove methyl orange (MO) from model paint wastewater. Biochar was first produced by pyrolysis at 425 °C and was activated using potassium hydroxide (KOH). Afterwards, the activated carbon was characterized by determining its surface morphology via Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) and functional groups present by Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR). The activated carbon yield (w/w) was 79.1%. Batch adsorption experiments were conducted to study the effects of pH, adsorbent loading, and initial MO concentration on the percent removal of MO via two-level factorial design with triplicates. The equilibrium time was achieved at 4 hours, and was used throughout the experiment. Results showed that all the factors and their interactions were significant, except for the interaction between adsorbent loading and initial MO concentration. At low pH, increasing the adsorbent loading resulted in an increase in percent removal for both 8 ppm and 20 ppm initial MO concentrations. However, at high pH, there was little or no removal of MO, which might be due to the presence of OH⁻ ions on the active sites of the adsorbent that repels the negatively charged MO anions. Decreasing the pH increased the percent removal of MO, which might be due to the dominance of H⁺ ions present on the surface of the adsorbent that attracted the negatively charged MO anion. The highest percent removal of MO was 27.7% obtained at pH 2.5, 20 ppm initial MO concentration and 10 g/L adsorbent loading. Adsorption data of MO onto pineapple peels activated carbon fits with Langmuir isotherm and Freundlich isotherm with an R² value of 0.971 and 0.967, respectively. The maximum adsorption capacity of 1.30 mg MO/gram activated carbon was obtained, signifying the potential of pineapple peel wastes as an adsorbent for dye removal in paint wastewater.
Go back to Research Abstracts