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A novel amino acid functionalized biosorbent (almond shells) for the removal of phenol from aqueous solutions: linear and nonlinear kinetic models and thermodynamic studies

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Abstract

In this work, phenol was adsorbed from an aqueous solution using a novel and natural adsorbent that was made from the wastes of almonds and functionalized with amino acids. FTIR, SEM, XRD, and BET methods were used to ascertain the modified biosorbent’s structural and physical properties. The effective factors on phenol removal, which include pH (2–12), adsorption dose (0–1 to 0–35 g/l), contact time (5–180 min), initial concentration (30–180 mg/l), and temperature (20–40 °C), were investigated and optimized. It was found that phenol adsorption was highly pH-dependent, reaching 90% at pH 6–8. Because of the rapid rate of adsorption, the system reached equilibrium after 90 min. The thermodynamic study discovered that the adsorption of phenol onto the biosorbent was an exothermic and spontaneous process. The pseudo-second-order model’s linear and non-linear forms both fit the kinetic data well, and the Langmuir isotherm, with a good adsorption capacity of 174.95 mg/g, had the best match with experimental data for both forms. The findings reveal that non-linear forms better describe the experimental data. After five cycles of adsorption and desorption, the biosorbent’s potential for reuse demonstrated a 90% adsorption efficiency. The results demonstrate that the adsorbent under study has a high capacity to extract phenol from water environments and can be suggested as an effective green adsorbent for removing phenol and phenolic compounds from water environments.

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Data availability

The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

This research has been supported by the Tehran University of Medical Sciences.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Social Determinants of Health Research Center (SDH), Qazvin University of Medical Sciences, Qazvin, Iran

    Leila Rasuli

  2. Department of Environmental Health Engineering, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

    Leila Rasuli & Mohammad Hadi Dehghani

  3. Center for Solid Waste Research, Institute for Environmental Research, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

    Mohammad Hadi Dehghani

  4. Department of Environmental Health Engineering, School of Public Health, Sabzevar University of Medical Sciences, Sabzevar, Iran

    Mehdi Salari

  5. Petroleum and Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Brunei, Bandar Seri Begawan, BE1410, Brunei Darussalam

    Rama Rao Karri & Nabisab Mujawar Mubarak

  6. Interdisciplinary Research Center for Membranes and Water Security, King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, 31261, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia

    Nadeem A. Khan

  7. State Key Laboratory of Chemical Resource Engineering and College of Chemistry, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, P. Box 98, Beisanhuan East Road 15, Beijing, 100029, People’s Republic of China

    Nadeem Hussain Solangi

  8. Chemical Engineering Section, Faculty of Engineering, Sohar University, Sohar, P C-311, Oman

    Natarajan Rajamohan

  9. Department of Chemistry, School of Chemical Engineering and Physical Sciences, Lovely Professional University, Jalandhar, Punjab, India

    Nabisab Mujawar Mubarak

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  1. Leila Rasuli
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Contributions

M.H.D., L.R., M.S.: supervision, conceptualization, methodology.

M.H.D., N.M.M, N.R., N.H.S.: software, visualization, investigation.

M.H.D., R.R.K., N.A.K.: writing—review and editing.

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Correspondence to Mohammad Hadi Dehghani.

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Rasuli, L., Dehghani, M.H., Salari, M. et al. A novel amino acid functionalized biosorbent (almond shells) for the removal of phenol from aqueous solutions: linear and nonlinear kinetic models and thermodynamic studies. Biomass Conv. Bioref. (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13399-024-05641-y

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