Di- and tri- cyclic aromatic hydrocarbons removal using different prepared materials based Sargassum dentifolium algae, and iron oxide

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are highly toxic and carcinogenic compounds as they are low water solubility, hardly degradable and may persist in the environment for many years. Therefore, this study was directed to PAHs 'anthracene and naphthalene' removal using a combination method between adsorption and degradation using sunlight. Three adsorbent materials, iron oxide (Fe) alone, Sargassum dentifolium (S) alone, and mixture of Iron oxide and Sargassum dentifolium (FeS) were prepared. Afterwards, optimisation process was performed for the three adsorbent forms through some preliminary experiments followed by full factorial design experiment to get the optimum interacted factors that achieve high PAHs removal efficiency. Some characterisation analyses such as FT-IR, TEM, DLS, zeta potential, specific surface area, magnetisation analysis, isotherm and kinetics studies were performed. The full factorial design showed that, the highest anthracene removal efficiency of 99.15% was obtained at 50 ppm concentration, 3 h contact time by using 1 g/l Sargassum dentifolium, whereas the highest naphthalene removal efficiency of 93.05% was achieved after 4 h contact time at 50 ppm concentration by using 4 g/l Sargassum dentifolium. Moreover, 93.02% naphthalene removal efficiency was stated at 50 ppm concentration after 1 h contact time by using 1 g/l mixed form of Iron oxide/Sargassum dentifolium.

Automated summary

This study aimed to remove anthracene and naphthalene, highly toxic and carcinogenic compounds, from PAHs using a combination method of adsorption and degradation. Different adsorbent materials were prepared and optimized through experiments. Characterization analyses were performed to analyze the adsorbent materials. The results showed that using Sargassum dentifolium as the adsorbent achieved high removal efficiency, and the mixture of iron oxide and Sargassum dentifolium also effectively removed PAHs.