Agricultural based activated carbons for the removal of dyes from aqueous solutions: a review.

This review evaluates a number of different agricultural waste adsorbents and types of dyes. Certain wastewater containing different dye contaminants causes serious environmental problems. Recently, growing research interest in the production of carbon based has been focused on agricultural by-products. Low cost adsorbents derived from agricultural wastes have demonstrated outstanding capabilities for the removal of dyes from wastewater. Therefore, low cost agricultural waste adsorbents can be viable alternatives to activated carbon for the treatment of contaminated wastewater. The use of cheap and eco-friendly adsorbents have been studied as an alternative substitution of activated carbon for the removal dyes from wastewater. The dye adsorption capacities of agricultural waste adsorbents vary, depending on the characteristics of the individual adsorbent, the extent of surface modification and the initial concentration of adsorbate.

Heavy metal adsorption onto agro-based waste materials: a review.

Adsorption has been proved to be an excellent way to treat industrial waste effluents, offering significant advantages like the low-cost, availability, profitability, easy of operation and efficiency. Biosorption of heavy metals from aqueous solutions is a relatively new process that has proven very promising in the removal of contaminants from aqueous effluents. Biosorption is becoming a potential alternative to the existing technologies for the removal and/or recovery of toxic metals from wastewater. The major advantages of biosorption technology are its effectiveness in reducing the concentration of heavy metal ions to very low levels and the use of inexpensive biosorbent materials. Metal adsorption and biosorption onto agricultural wastes is a rather complex process affected by several factors. Mechanisms involved in the biosorption process include chemisorption, complexation, adsorption-complexation on surface and pores, ion exchange, microprecipitation, heavy metal hydroxide condensation onto the biosurface, and surface adsorption.

Studies on cottonseed oil biodiesel prepared in non-catalytic SCF conditions.

The vegetable oils are all extremely viscous with viscosities ranging from 10 to 20 times greater than petroleum diesel fuel. The purpose of the transesterification process is to lower the viscosity of the oil. Methyl and ethyl esters as biodiesel were prepared from cottonseed oil through transesterification using non-catalytic supercritical fluids. The transesterfication of linseed oil in SCF such as methanol and ethanol has proved to be the most promising process. The biodiesels were characterized for their physical and main fuel properties including viscosity, density, flash point and higher heating value (HHV). The viscosities of biodiesels (3.6-4.0 mm(2)/s at 311 K) were much less than those of pure oils (33-36 mm(2)/s at 311 K), and their HHVs of approximately 40.5 MJ/kg were 10% less than those of petrodiesel fuels (approximately 45 MJ/kg). The flash point values (435-445 K) of methyl and ethyl esters are highly lower than that of cottonseed oil (507-512 K). The most important variables affecting the ester yield during the transesterification reaction are molar ratio of alcohol to vegetable oil and reaction temperature.

An investigation of waste foundry sand in asphalt concrete mixtures.

A laboratory study regarding the reuse of waste foundry sand in asphalt concrete production by replacing a certain portion of aggregate with WFS was undertaken. The results showed that replacement of 10% aggregates with waste foundry sand was found to be the most suitable for asphalt concrete mixtures. Furthermore, the chemical and physical properties of waste foundry sand were analysed in the laboratory to determine the potential effect on the environment. The results indicated that the investigated waste foundry sand did not significantly affect the environment around the deposition

Adsorption thermodynamics of stearic acid onto bentonite.

Adsorption equilibrium of stearic acid onto natural bentonite with Turkish origin was studied at the temperatures of 298, 308 and 318 K. SEM and XRD analysis show that the bentonite used as adsorbent is composed of microcrystal and porous structure. The specific surface area was determined by BET method as 38.6 m(2)/g. The adsorption of stearic acid onto bentonite was conformed to the Langmiur and Freundlich isotherms. The equilibrium parameter, R(L) revealed that the bentonite is a good adsorbent for stearic acid. The sorption capacity of bentonite studied decreases with increasing temperature. However, it is concluded that the adsorption capacity of bentonite for the stearic acid under the same experimental conditions is in comparable level in terms of that of the rice husk ash given in literature. Thermodynamic parameters, DeltaG(ads) degrees , was calculated to be between -21.8 and -22.8 kJ mol(-1). DeltaH(ads) degrees and DeltaS(ads) degrees were found to be -9.2 kJ mol(-1) and 42.4 J mol(-1)K(-1), respectively. These parameters obtained as a function of temperature indicate that the adsorption of stearic acid onto bentonite was a spontaneous and an exothermic process. An FT-IR study on the adsorbed material was used to verify the interaction of the stearic molecule with bentonite after adsorption process.

Adsorption of Cu(II), Zn(II), Ni(II), Pb(II), and Cd(II) from aqueous solution on Amberlite IR-120 synthetic resin.

The adsorption of copper(II), zinc(II), nickel(II), lead(II), and cadmium(II) on Amberlite IR-120 synthetic sulfonated resin has been studied at different pH and temperatures by batch process. The effects of parameters such as amount of resin, resin contact time, pH, and temperature on the ion exchange separation have been investigated. For the determination of the adsorption behavior of the resin, the adsorption isotherms of metal ions have also been studied. The concentrations of metal ions have been measured by batch techniques and with AAS analysis. Adsorption analysis results obtained at various concentrations showed that the adsorption pattern on the resin followed Freundlich isotherms. Here we report the method that is applied for the sorption/separation of some toxic metals from their solutions.

Adsorption of lead and cadmium ions in aqueous solutions onto modified lignin from alkali glycerol delignication.

Adsorptions of toxic metal ions (Pb(II) and Cd(II)) onto modified lignin from beech and poplar woods by alkali glycerol delignification are presented in this paper. The material exhibits good adsorption capacity and the adsorption data follow the Langmuir model. The maximum adsorption capacities are 8.2-9.0 and 6.7-7.5 mg/g of the modified lignin for Pb(II) and Cd(II), respectively. The maximum adsorption percentage is 95.8 for Pb(II) for 4 h at 330 K and is 95.0 for Cd(II) for 10 h at 290 K. The adsorption of both the metal ions increased with increasing temperature indicating endothermic nature of the adsorption process. The maximum adsorption percentages of Pb(II) and Cd(II) ions decrease with time till 48 and 42 h and then again increase slightly with time. The adsorption of both heavy metal ions increases with pH. The adsorption of Pb(II) ions reached a maximum at a 5.0 value of pH.