Journal
JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL CHEMICAL ENGINEERING
Volume 4, Issue 2, Pages 1714-1721Publisher
ELSEVIER SCI LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.jece.2016.02.013
Keywords
Agarose hydrogel; Freeze dry; Methylene blue; Water purification; Adsorption; Textile and industrial wastewater
Categories
Funding
- Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (Biomedical Research Council, Agency for Science, Technology and Research, Singapore)
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Dye colourants are being produced yearly on the kilotonne-scale and a significant percentage end up as highly-polluting industrial effluents. Freeze-dried agarose gels are demonstrated here to be efficient adsorbents for the removal of methylene blue, an important industrial dye. A hydrogel adsorbent offers advantages over powdered formulations, which can be difficult to handle. Freeze-drying further allows the adsorbent to be packaged, transported and stored in a dry format, thus conferring cost savings. Parameters such as the volume or concentration of agarose or dye, exposure time, pH and gel/water contact area influenced adsorption capacity and kinetics. Salt inhibited adsorption in a dose-dependent manner and this was exploited for the recycling of adsorbent and dye. Langmuir and Freundlich isotherms were also applied to model the adsorption process. The freeze-dried agarose gel achieved an adsorption capacity of 10.4 +/- 0.2 mg/g, which was comparable to commercial activated carbon assessed under similar conditions. Additionally, unlike most activated carbon, agarose is derived from a renewable source. Since agarose is cheaply available commercially, this method can enjoy rapid industrial translation. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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