Tanweer Ahmad

Removal of Pesticides from Water and Wastewater by Different Adsorbents: A Review

In this review article, the use of various low-cost adsorbents for the removal of pesticides from water and wastewater has been reviewed. Pesticides may appear as pollutants in water sources, having undesirable impacts to human health because of their toxicity, carcinogenicity, and mutagenicity or causing aesthetic problems such as taste and odors. These pesticides pollute the water stream and it can be removed very effectively using different low-cost adsorbents. It is evident from a literature survey of about 191 recently published papers that low-cost adsorbents have demonstrated outstanding removal capabilities for pesticides.

The use of date palm as a potential adsorbent for wastewater treatment: a review

BackgroundIn tropical countries, the palm tree is one of the most abundant and important trees. Date palm is a principal fruit grown in many regions of the world. It is abundant, locally available and effective material that could be used as an adsorbent for the removal of different pollutants from aqueous solution.ReviewThis article presents a review on the role of date palm as adsorbents in the removal of unwanted materials such as acid and basic dyes, heavy metals, and phenolic compounds. Many studies on adsorption properties of various low cost adsorbent, such as agricultural waste and activated carbons based on agricultural waste have been reported in recent years.ConclusionStudies have shown that date palm-based adsorbents are the most promising adsorbents for removing unwanted materials. No previous review is available where researchers can get an overview of the adsorption capacities of date palm-based adsorbent used for the adsorption of different pollutants. This review provides the recent literature demonstrating the usefulness of date palm biomass-based adsorbents in the adsorption of various pollutants.

Oil Palm Biomass–Based Adsorbents for the Removal of Water Pollutants—A Review

This article presents a review on the role of oil palm biomass (trunks, fronds, leaves, empty fruit bunches, shells, etc.) as adsorbents in the removal of water pollutants such as acid and basic dyes, heavy metals, phenolic compounds, various gaseous pollutants, and so on. Numerous studies on adsorption properties of various low-cost adsorbents, such as agricultural wastes and its based activated carbons, have been reported in recent years. Studies have shown that oil palm–based adsorbent, among the low-cost adsorbents mentioned, is the most promising adsorbent for removing water pollutants. Further, these bioadsorbents can be chemically modified for better efficiency and can undergo multiple reuses to enhance their applicability at an industrial scale. It is evident from a literature survey of more than 100 recent papers that low-cost adsorbents have demonstrated outstanding removal capabilities for various pollutants. The conclusion is been drawn from the reviewed literature, and suggestions for future research are proposed.

Oil Palm Biomass as a Precursor of Activated Carbons: A Review

Commercial activated carbon has been a preferred adsorbent for the removal of various pollutants, and its widespread use is restricted due to its relatively high costs, which led to the researches on the possible alternative nonconventional and low-cost adsorbents. The use of agricultural products and by-products for instance has been widely investigated as a replacement for the current costly methods of removing various pollutants. In this critical review, an extensive list of the production of activated carbon from oil palm biomass is presented. The effects of various process parameters on the pyrolysis stage, characteristics, and influences of physical and chemical activating conditions on the production of activated carbons from oil palm biomass are discussed. A comparison in characteristics and applications of activated carbons from oil palm biomass with commercial activated carbons is made. It is evident from a literature survey of about 200 recently published articles that activated carbons from oil palm biomass exhibit outstanding capabilities for removal of various pollutants.

Prospects of banana waste utilization in wastewater treatment: A review

This review article explores utilization of banana waste (fruit peels, pseudo-stem, trunks, and leaves) as precursor materials to produce an adsorbent, and its application against environmental pollutants such as heavy metals, dyes, organic pollutants, pesticides, and various other gaseous pollutants. In recent past, quite a good number of research articles have been published on the utilization of low-cost adsorbents derived from biomass wastes. The literature survey on banana waste derived adsorbents shown that due to the abundance of banana waste worldwide, it also considered as low-cost adsorbents with promising future application against various environmental pollutants. Furthermore, raw banana biomass can be chemically modified to prepare efficient adsorbent as per requirement; chemical surface functional group modification may enhance the multiple uses of the adsorbent with industrial standard. It was evident from a literature survey that banana waste derived adsorbents have significant removal efficiency against various pollutants. Most of the published articles on banana waste derived adsorbents have been discussed critically, and the conclusion is drawn based on the results reported. Some results with poorly performed experiments were also discussed and pointed out their lacking in reporting. Based on literature survey, the future research prospect on banana wastes has a significant impact on upcoming research strategy.

Characterization and adsorption kinetic study of surfactant treated oil palm (Elaeis guineensis) empty fruit bunches

AbstractOil palm (Elaeis guineensis) empty fruit bunches (OPEFB) was treated with cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) to make its surface suitable for methyl orange (MO) dye adsorption. CTAB-treated OPEFB samples were characterized for their surface functional groups using FTIR, pHzpc, proton-binding capacity, and Boehm titration techniques. The surface morphology and elemental composition of the sample were also studied, employing field emission scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS). It was found that in totality, acidic surface functional group increased after CTAB treatment. The adsorption process was well explained with pseudo-second-order kinetic model. The obtained equilibrium sorption data were then analyzed using the Langmuir, Freundlich, Dubinin–Radushkevich, and Tempkin isotherms. The results showed that sorption was surfactant dose dependent and adsorption increased with an increase in the percentage of surfactant applied on the OPEFB. The maximum adsorpt...

Energetics of anionic surfactant-additive systems at the cloud point

The energetics of clouding in anionic surfactant (SDBS) and tetrabutylammonium bromide system in the presence of additives, such as ureas, amino acids and sugars is reported. The change of standard Gibbs energy of solubilization (ΔGso) for all of the additives was found to be negative. The values of change of standard enthalpy (ΔHso) and that of standard entropy (TΔSso) values were found to depend on the type and chemistry of the additive. The results were explained on the basis including chemistry of additives, their effect on water structure, and solubilization of additives either in the micellar or in aqueous phases.

Optimization of banana trunk-activated carbon production for methylene blue-contaminated water treatment

This experiment was run to characterize the banana trunk-activated carbon through methylene blue dye adsorption property. The H3PO4 chemical activating agent was used to produce activated carbons from the banana trunk. A small rotatable central composite design of response surface methodology was adopted to prepare chemically (H3PO4) activated carbon from banana trunk. Three operating variables such as activation time (50–120xa0min), activation temperature (450–850xa0°C), and activating agent concentration (1.5–7.0xa0mol/L) play a significant role in the adsorption capacities (q) of activated carbons against methylene blue dye. The results implied that the maximum adsorption capacity of fixed dosage (4.0xa0g/L) banana trunk-activated carbon was achieved at the activation time of 51xa0min, the activation temperature of 774xa0°C, and H3PO4 concentration of 5.09xa0mol/L. At optimum conditions of preparation, the obtained banana trunk-activated carbon has adsorption capacity 64.66xa0mg/g against methylene blue. Among the prepared activated carbons run number 3 (prepared with central values of the operating variables) was characterized through Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, field emission scanning microscopy, and powder X-ray diffraction.

Augmentation of EFB Fiber Web by Nano-Scale Fibrous Elements

Treatment of the abundant oil palm empty fruit bunches with alkaline peroxide chemicals and subsequent fibrillation at varying mechanical energies resulted in favourable morphological changes of the generated fibers. The produced fibrous mass composed of intensely fibrillated elements ranging from micro to nanodiameter fibrils. nanofibrils and webs of nanofibrils were factors contributing to the functionality of the fibrous mass as fibre web augmentation elements. Profound improvement in fiber network is particularly attributable to the ability of the collected elements to fill up inter-fiber gaps and this was attributable to the micro elements in the form of micro fines, segmented micro-fibrils and webs of nanofibrils. The uniquely generated thin layers of nanofibril webs (TN-webs), were found to increase fiber web density by gluing multiple layers of fibers, together. Having landed on the surface of micro-fiber web, these TN-webs were identified as responsible for the masking effects of the underlying micro-fibres. Under such condition, fibers were observed to coalesce, suggesting also an augmented fiber network as evident from the 130% increase in tensile index and a 450% enhancement in burst index of the resultant fiber web relative to those formed with the basic alkaline peroxide chemical-mechanical refining (CMR) synergy. This reveals a great promise to EFB for application as super-strong fibre-web materials such as packaging and specialty paper-based products.