M.A. Barakat

Adsorptive removal of dyes from aqueous solution onto carbon nanotubes: a review.

Adsorption is a widely used technique for the separation and removal of pollutants from wastewaters. Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are emerging as potential adsorbents because of its well defined cylindrical hollow structure, large surface area, high aspect ratios, hydrophobic wall and easily modified surfaces. In this review, dye adsorption capability of CNTs and CNT based composites from aqueous system has been compiled. This article provides the information about the defect, adsorption sites on CNTs and batch adsorption studies under the influence of various operational parameters such as contact time, solution pH, temperatures etc. and deals with mechanisms involved in adsorption of dyes onto CNTs. From the literature reviewed, it is observed that single walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) show higher adsorption capacity than multi walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) and functionalized and CNT composite have better sorption capacity than as grown CNTs. It is evident from the literature that CNT based nanosorbents have shown good potential for the removal of dyes from aqueous solution. However, still more research work should be focused on the development of cost effective, higher efficient and environmental friendly CNT based nanosorbents for their commercial applications.

EDTA functionalized silica for removal of Cu(II), Zn(II) and Ni(II) from aqueous solution.

Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) functionalized silica adsorbent has been synthesized using (3-aminopropyl) triethoxylsilane (APTES) as a bridging link between silanol groups (SiOH) of silica and carboxylic group of EDTA. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and Temperature-programmed oxidation (TPO) analysis confirmed the grafting of EDTA onto the silica. The synthesized EDTA-silica was investigated as an adsorbent for removal of Cu(II), Zn(II) and Ni(II) from aqueous solution. The effect of solution pH, initial solution concentration, and contact time were studied. The removal of metal ions increased with the increase in solution pH, contact time and concentration. The maximum equilibrium time was found to be 45min for all three metal ions. Kinetics studies revealed that the adsorption of Cu(II), Zn(II) and Ni(II) onto EDTA-silica followed the pseudo-second order kinetics and film diffusion and intra-particle diffusion mechanism were involved. Adsorption equilibrium data were well fitted to Langmuir isotherm model and maximum monolayer adsorption capacity for Cu(II), Zn(II) and Ni(II) was 79.36, 74.07 and 67.56mg g(-1), respectively. Thermodynamic results reveal that the removal of metals onto EDTA-silica was endothermic and spontaneous in nature.

Remediation of Cu(II), Ni(II), and Cr(III) ions from simulated wastewater by dendrimer/titania composites.

Generation 4 polyamidoamine (PAMAM) dendrimers with ethylenediamine cores (G4-OH) were immobilized on titania (TiO(2)) and examined as novel metal chelation materials. Characterization results indicate both the effective immobilization of dendrimers onto titania and retention of the dendrimer on titania following remediation. The effective remediation of Cu(II), Ni(II), and Cr(III), which are model pollutants commonly found in industrial electroplating wastewater, is demonstrated in this work. Important parameters that influence the efficiency of metal ion removal were investigated; e.g. solution pH, retention time, metal ion concentration, and composite material dosage. Metal ion removal was achieved over a wide metal concentration range within a 1 h equilibration time. Maximum metal ion removal was achieved at pH ≥7 for both Cu(II) and Cr(III), and pH ≥9 for Ni(II). Further, the dendrimer/titania composite materials were even more effective when metal ion mixtures were tested. Specifically, a dramatic increase was observed for Ni(II) chelation when in a mixture was compared to a pure nickel solution. These findings suggest new strategies for improving metal ion removal from industrial wastewater.

Iron Chelation by Polyamidoamine Dendrimers: A Second-Order Kinetic Model for Metal–Amine Complexation

This study presents a kinetic model of the chelation of iron ions by generation 4 hydroxyl-terminated polyamidoamine (PAMAM) with ethylenediamine core (G4-OH). The coordination processes of iron ions from ferric chloride, FeCl(3), and ferrous bromide, FeBr(2), to G4-OH dendrimers were analyzed using ultraviolet-visible (UV-vis) spectroscopy, proton nuclear magnetic resonance ((1)H NMR) spectroscopy, and liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS). In the visible region, a charge-transfer was observed when the dendrimer was added to a ferric chloride solution. This phenomenon is a ligand-to-metal charge-transfer (LMCT) between the free electron group of the dendrimers internal amines and the dehalogenated iron ion that takes 2 h to complete at room temperature. Analysis of potential rate laws and diffusion effects led to a second-order kinetic model for this reaction. By measuring the rate coefficients as a function of temperature (22-37 °C), an apparent activation energy of 41.5 kJ/mol was obtained using the Arrhenius method. The results of this study will fuel research of PAMAM dendrimers for environmental, pharmaceutical, and materials applications.

Influence of temperature and reaction time on the conversion of polystyrene waste to pyrolysis liquid oil

This paper aims to investigate the effect of temperature and reaction time on the yield and quality of liquid oil produced from a pyrolysis process. Polystyrene (PS) type plastic waste was used as a feedstock in a small pilot scale batch pyrolysis reactor. At 400°C with a reaction time of 75min, the gas yield was 8% by mass, the char yield was 16% by mass, while the liquid oil yield was 76% by mass. Raising the temperature to 450°C increased the gas production to 13% by mass, reduced the char production to 6.2% and increased the liquid oil yield to 80.8% by mass. The optimum temperature and reaction time was found to be 450°C and 75min. The liquid oil at optimum conditions had a dynamic viscosity of 1.77mPas, kinematic viscosity of 1.92cSt, a density of 0.92g/cm3, a pour point of -60°C, a freezing point of -64°C, a flash point of 30.2°C and a high heating value (HHV) of 41.6MJ/kg this is similar to conventional diesel. The gas chromatography with mass spectrophotometry (GC-MS) analysis showed that liquid oil contains mainly styrene (48%), toluene (26%) and ethyl-benzene (21%) compounds.

Anion selective pTSA doped polyaniline@graphene oxide-multiwalled carbon nanotube composite for Cr(VI) and Congo red adsorption

Multiwalled carbon nanotube (CNT)-graphene oxide (GO) composite was combined with polyaniline (Pani) using an oxidative polymerisation technique. The resulting Pani@GO-CNT was later doped with para toluene sulphonic acid (pTSA) to generate additional functionality. The functional groups exposed on the GO, Pani and pTSA were expected to impart a high degree of functionality to the pTSA-Pani@GO-CNT composite system. The composite was characterised by scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The characterisation results revealed the characteristics of Pani, GO, CNT, and pTSA, and suggested the successful formation of the pTSA-Pani@GO-CNT composite system. The composite was utilised successfully for the adsorptive removal of Cr(IV) and Congo red (CR) dye and the adsorption of both pollutants was found to be strongly dependent on the solution pH, adsorbate concentration, contact time, and reaction temperature. The maximum adsorption of Cr(IV) and CR was observed in an acidic medium at 30°C. The kinetics for Cr(IV) and CR adsorption was studied using pseudo-first order, pseudo-second order, and intraparticle diffusion models. The adsorption equilibrium data were also fitted to the Langmuir and Freundlich isotherm models. The thermodynamic results showed that the adsorption process was exothermic in nature. The present study provides a new methodology for the preparation of a highly functionalised Pani-based nanocomposite system and its potential applications to the adsorptive removal of a multicomponent pollutant system from an aqueous solution.

Synthesis and characterization of a starch–AlOOH–FeS2 nanocomposite for the adsorption of congo red dye from aqueous solution

This work described the synthesis and characterization of a starch–AlOOH–FeS2 nanocomposite for the adsorption of congo red (CR) dye from aqueous solution. The morphology of the starch–AlOOH–FeS2 was characterized by using scanning and transmission electron microscopy, N2 adsorption–desorption isotherms, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and fourier transform-infrared spectroscopy. The adsorption of CR onto starch–AlOOH–FeS2 was evaluated as a function of contact time, solution pH, concentration and temperature. The adsorption results demonstrate that the maximum removal of CR was found to be at pH 5. The adsorption kinetics data fitted well to the pseudo first-order equation whereas the Freundlich equation exhibits better correlation to the experimental data. Thermodynamic parameters, such as the standard free energy change (ΔG°), the standard entropy change (ΔS°) and the standard enthalpy change (ΔH°), were also evaluated. The results suggested that starch–AlOOH–FeS2 is a potential adsorbent for CR dye removal from aqueous solution.

InVO 4/TiO 2 composite for visible-light photocatalytic degradation of 2-chlorophenol in wastewater

InVO 4/TiO 2 composite was synthesized via amalgamation of InVO 4 with TiO 2 (Degussa P-25) powders. Application of the produced composite was evaluated as a catalyst for visible-light photocatalytic degradation of 2-chlorophenol (2-CP) in synthetic wastewater solutions. The catalyst was characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy energy dispersive X-ray microanalyses and nitrogen physisorption. The degradation of 2-CP was affected by solution pH, light intensity, photocatalyst dosage and 2-CP initial concentration. InVO 4/TiO 2 showed higher photocatalytic degradation of 2-CP as compared with Degussa P-25 TiO 2. Complete degradation of 2-CP was achieved with the InVO 4/TiO 2 catalyst under optimized conditions (1 g/L catalyst with a pollutant concentration of 50 mg/L at solution pH 5 and irradiation time of 180 min). Comparatively, 2-CP degradation efficiency of 50.5% was achieved with the TiO 2 (Degussa P-25) at the same experimental conditions. The study confirmed that InVO 4/TiO 2 has high potential for degradation of 2-CP from wastewater under visible-light irradiation.

Hybrid chitosan/polyaniline-polypyrrole biomaterial for enhanced adsorption and antimicrobial activity.

In this work, chitosan (CS) functionalized polyaniline-polypyrrole (Pani-Ppy) copolymer (CS/Pani-Ppy) was synthesized applying a facile one pot method for the enhanced adsorption of Zn(II) and antimicrobial activity for E. coli and E. agglomerans. The synthesized materials were characterized using scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, Fourier transform inferred spectroscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The adsorption of the Zn(II) on the synthesized materials was highly dependent on the pH of the solution, the initial metal ion concentration, and temperature. The adsorption of Zn(II) on the studied materials was as follows: CS/Pani-Ppy>Pani-Ppy>Ppy>Pani>CS. The results reveal that adsorption of Zn(II) follows the Langmuir adsorption isotherm, and that chemisorption occurs through pendant and bridging interactions, with active adsorbent sites. Thermodynamic results show the adsorption is spontaneous and exothermic in nature. The synthesized materials show excellent antimicrobial activity against E. coli and E. agglomerans bacterial organisms, and an approximately 100% decline in the viability of both strains was observed with CS/Pani-Ppy and Pani-Ppy. The order of antimicrobial activity for the synthesized materials was as follows: CS/Ppy-Pani>Ppy-Pani>Ppy>Pani>CS. The results show that the greater activity of CS/Ppy-Pani resulted from the electrostatic interaction between positively charged amine groups and negatively charged bacteria.

Pt nanoparticles/TiO2 for photocatalytic degradation of phenols in wastewater

Pt nanoparticles/TiO 2 catalysts were prepared and evaluated for UV-photocatalytic degradation of phenol and 2-chlorophenol (2-CP) in synthetic wastewater solutions. The catalysts were synthesized by immobilizing colloidal Pt nanoparticles onto titanium dioxide (rutile TiO 2). Analytical techniques, such as standard Brunauer–Emmett–Teller isotherms, X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscope, were utillized for investigating the specific surface area, structure, and particle size distribution of the catalysts and its components. The photocatalytic activities of both phenol and 2-CP solutions were studied in a 1 L batch photoreactor independently, under 450 W UV irradiation. Samples were drawn at regular intervals and residual concentration of phenol and 2-CP in the samples was analysed using an UV-visible spectrophotometer. Parameters controlling the photocatalytic process, including catalyst concentration, solution pH, and initial phenol (2-CP) concentration, were investigated. The obtained results revealed that Pt/TiO2 showed higher photocatalytic degradation for both phenol and 2-CP pollutants in solution (as compared to the rutile TiO2). The degradation efficiencies of 87.7% and 100% were obtained for phenol and 2-CP, respectively, under optimized conditions (0.5 g/L catalyst with a pollutant concentration of 50 mg/L after irradiation time of 180 min).