Recyclable magnetic waste tyre activated carbon-chitosan composite as an effective adsorbent rapid and simultaneous removal of methylparaben and propylparaben from aqueous solution and wastewater

A recyclable magnetic waste tyre activated carbon-chitosan composite was synthesized as a suitable adsorbent material in the adsorptive parabens removal from model solutions and real wastewater samples. Characterization techniques such as, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy as well as X-ray diffraction confirmed the formation of adsorbent material. The results of Brunauer-Emmett-Teller isotherms showed that the adsorbent has a specific surface area of 1281 m(2) g(-1) and pore size of 4.05 nm. These results offer relatively high adsorption capacity for the parabens. Under optimised conditions, kinetics results demonstrated that the adsorption fitted the pseudo-second-kinetic model. While, the simultaneous adsorption of methylparaben and propylparaben was described better by Langmuir and Redlich-Peterson isotherm models. The maximum adsorption capacity for monolayer adsorption from the Langmuir model as 85.9 mg.g(-1) and 90.0 mg.g(-1) for methylparaben and propylparaben, respectively. It was observed that the composite was stable after seven cycles of adsorption-desorption with obvious loss of adsorption efficiency (> 95%). Therefore, it was concluded that as-prepared composite had considerable reusability properties which could make it a cost-effective adsorbent for the removal of parabens from various media. Furthermore, the eco-friendly and cost-effective magnetic adsorbent was used for remediation of parabens from wastewater samples and up to 100% removal was achieved.