Masita Mohammad

Carbon Derived from Jatropha Seed Hull as a Potential Green Adsorbent for Cadmium (II) Removal from Wastewater

Carbon from jatropha seed hull (JC) was prepared to study the adsorption of cadmium ions (Cd2+) from aqueous solutions under various experimental conditions. Batch equilibrium methods have been used to study the influences of the initial metal ion concentration (0.5–50 ppm), dosage (0.2–1 g), contact time (0–300 min), pH (2–7), and temperature (26–60 °C) on adsorption behavior. It has been found that the amount of cadmium adsorbed increases with the initial metal ion concentration, temperature, pH, contact time, and amount of adsorbent. A kinetic study proved that the mechanism of Cd2+ adsorption on JC followed a three steps process, confirmed by an intraparticle diffusion model: rapid adsorption of metal ions, a transition phase, and nearly flat plateau section. The experimental results also showed that the Cd2+ adsorption process followed pseudo-second-order kinetics. The Langmuir and Freundlich adsorption isotherm models were used to describe the experimental data, with the former exhibiting a better correlation coefficient than the latter (R2 = 0.999). The monolayer adsorption capacity of JC has been compared with the capacities of the other reported agriculturally-based adsorbents. It has been clearly demonstrated that this agricultural waste generated by the biofuel industry can be considered a potential low-cost adsorbent for the removal of Cd2+ from industrial effluents.

Comparison of Activated Carbon and Physic Seed Hull for the Removal of Malachite Green Dye from Aqueous Solution

In the present work, the effectiveness of physic seed hull, PSH (Jatropha curcas L.), as an alternative low-cost adsorbent for the removal of malachite green (MG) dye from simulated wastewater has been studied. It has been observed that PSH has remarkable adsorption capacity compared to granular activated carbon. The PSH adsorbent was characterized by SEM-EDX, BET, CHNS, zeta potential, and FTIR techniques. The adsorption behaviors such as adsorption kinetics, adsorption dynamics, and adsorption isotherms of PSH for the removal of MG dye from aqueous solution were studied in detail. The kinetic data fitted well with the pseudo second-order kinetic model for MG adsorption. Langmuir isotherm was found to be the model best fitted to describe the adsorption process.

Radiation Induced Grafting of Acrylic Acid on to Polyaniline Nanofiber

This study aims to explore modification of polyaniline nanofiber through grafting polymerization to increase its solubility and processability for application in aqueous environment. Grafting via electron beam radiation procedure is extremely productive in terms of time consumption and environmental friendliness. In this work, acrylic acid was grafted on to polyaniline nanofiber using electron beam irradiation. The influence of altering the electron beam power from 2-3 MeV, radiation dosage from 5-25 kGy, acrylic acid concentration from 10-100% and soaking time from 2-24 hours during graft polymerization were studied over the grafting percentage (%G). Grafting parameter was determined by weight changes before and after grafting procedure. Grafted polyaniline is characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). Formation of new peak at 1700 cm-1 for FTIR spectroscopy analysis of grafted polyaniline confirmed grafting has taken place during irradiation.

Characterization of Several Microcrystalline Cellulose (MCC)-Based Agricultural Wastes via X-Ray Diffraction Method

In this study, microcrystalline cellulose (MCC) was extracted from various types of local agricultural wastes. Four types of agricultural waste such as coconut coir, banana stem, sugarcane bagasse and pineapple leaves were collected, extracted and hydrolyzed into microcrystalline cellulose, using pre-treatment (alkaline and bleaching) and acid hydrolysis, respectively. The extracted MCC were analyzed and compared with those of commercially available MCC. The study of crystallinity behaviors of the obtained MCC was performed by X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) analysis. The XRD of MCC revealed that the crystallinity of pineapple leaves has the highest crystallinity index with 75% in value and closest compared to commercial MCC, 81.25%. The value of crystallinity index for banana stem is 74.55% followed by coconut coir, 72.73% and sugarcane bagasse, 66.50%. All of the MCC samples showed the similar pattern with the typical crystalline structure of cellulose I. The crystallite size of all MCC samples was calculated and found in the range of 4.04 – 5.14 nm. These extracted MCC that obtained from several agricultural wastes was supposed to have a high potential as value-added products in industrial applications.

Algae and their growth requirements for bioenergy: a review

Algal-derived bioenergy is one of the best alternative energy sources to replace fossil-based fuels. Algae are a diverse collection of oxygen-releasing photosynthetic organisms with rapid growth ca...

Effects of Zinc Chloride Impregnation on the Characteristics of Activated Carbon Produced from Physic Nut Seed Hull

Activated carbon was developed from physic nut seed hull through chemical activation using zinc chloride. The characteristics of raw physic nut seed hull as well as char and activated carbon from physic nut seed hull were obtained to study the effects of ZnCl2 impregnation. The comparisons of the characteristics that included elemental composition, surface morphology, surface area, surface functional groups and zeta potential were made on the three samples. The study found that ZnCl2 had positive effects towards developing activated carbon including increasing the carbon content, surface area and pore volume besides improving the microporosity and surface charge distribution of the carbon.