Sustainable and smart hybrid nanoporous adsorbent derived biomass as efficient adsorbent for cleaning of wastewater from Alizarin Red dye

Renewable, scalable and efficient porous adsorbent for removal of Alizarin Red dye from aqueous solution has been developed. Chicken feathers as undesirable bio-waste was recycled via one pot carbonization step to porous carbon. Then, its surface was smartly functionalized with thin layer of polypyrrole via environmentally friendly vapor phase polymerization method. This creates a new and smart porous adsorbent for efficient removal of anionic Alizarin Red dye from aqueous solution. Hence, the obtained adsorbent has positive surface centers and superior porous structure compared to unmodified porous carbon. The developed adsorbent achieved specific surface area and total pore volume of 856 m(2) g(-1) and 0.56 cm(3) g(-1) compared to 208 m(2) g(-1) and 0.23 cm(3) g(-1) for unmodified carbon, respectively. The smart porous adsorbent achieved excellent removal efficiency of Alizarin Red dye from aqueous solution of 97% compared to 41% for unmodified carbon and achieving maximum uptake capacity of 157 mg g(-1). The impact of adsorption factors of pH, adsorbent dose, initial concentration of dye, temperature and contact time was studied. The adsorption kinetic parameters of the adsorption of dye on adsorbent surface were studied and isotherm of the reaction was fitted well to the Langmuir model. Additionally, the thermodynamic parameters of free energy, enthalpy and entropy of adsorption were studied and confirm the adsorption reaction is of endothermic behavior. Moreover, the adsorption mechanism of dye on developed adsorbent surface and reusability of adsorbent were studied.

Automated summary

A renewable and efficient porous adsorbent was developed using chicken feathers, presenting superior adsorption performance for dye removal from aqueous solution.