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Fabrication of activated carbon from pomegranate husk by dual consecutive chemical activation for 4-chlorophenol adsorption

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Abstract

In the present work, the fabrication of activated carbon (AC) from pomegranate husk (PHAC) by dual consecutive activation processes with ZnCl2 and NaOH as a chemical agent was studied. After that, the synthesized PHAC was used for adsorption of 4-chlorophenol (4CP) as a highly toxic compound for the human health and the environment. Different analytical techniques characterized the synthesized PHAC using ZnCl2/NaOH. The isotherms of N2 adsorption and desorption showed that total pore volume (Vtotal) and specific surface area (SBET) of PHAC were 0.404 cm3/g and 811.12 m2/g, respectively. The 4CP adsorption by PHAC studies revealed that the highest 4CP removal efficiency was 100% and obtained at 50, 100, and 150 mg/L of 4CP concentration with 2.5 g/L of PHAC. Based on the batch experiments, the highest 4CP removal was achieved at pH 6, 2.5 g/L of PHAC, and contact time of 60 min. The 4CP adsorption data of equilibrium and kinetics were successfully fitted to Langmuir’s isotherm and Avrami fractional order.

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Funding

The current research was supported by Isfahan University of Medical Sciences (Grant No. 298169 and ethical code #IR.MUI.RESEARCH.REC.1398.636). E.C. Lima thanks to CNPq (303.622/2017-2) and FAPERGS (19/2551-0001865-7).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Environmental Health Engineering, School of Health, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran

    Sousan Hadi, Ensiyeh Taheri, Mohammad Mehdi Amin & Ali Fatehizadeh

  2. Student Research Committee, School of Health, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran

    Sousan Hadi

  3. Environment Research Center, Research Institute for Primordial Prevention of Non-Communicable Disease, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran

    Ensiyeh Taheri, Mohammad Mehdi Amin & Ali Fatehizadeh

  4. Institute of Chemistry, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), Av. Bento Goncalves 9500, Postal Box 15003, Porto Alegre, RS, 91501-970, Brazil

    Eder C. Lima

Authors
  1. Sousan Hadi
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  2. Ensiyeh Taheri
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  3. Mohammad Mehdi Amin
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  4. Ali Fatehizadeh
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  5. Eder C. Lima
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Contributions

Sousan Hadi: Investigation, Data curation, Writing (original draft preparation); Ensiyeh Taheri: Investigation, Data curation, Formal analysis, Writing (original draft preparation); Mohammad Mehdi Amin: Data curation, Writing (original draft preparation); Ali Fatehizadeh: Conceptualization, Supervision, Methodology, Writing (original draft preparation); Eder C. lima: Software, Writing (review and editing).

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ali Fatehizadeh.

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The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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All procedures performed in this study were in accordance with the ethical standards of the Iranian national research committee and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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The manuscript is an original work of all authors and all authors made a significant contribution to this study.

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Hadi, S., Taheri, E., Amin, M.M. et al. Fabrication of activated carbon from pomegranate husk by dual consecutive chemical activation for 4-chlorophenol adsorption. Environ Sci Pollut Res 28, 13919–13930 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-11624-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-11624-z

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