Simultaneous and efficient adsorption of methylene blue and methyl orange by low-cost adsorbent derived from waste...

The exponential expansion of population and industry leads to the contamination of freshwater resources, and the actual effluent in real-world scenarios comprises many pollutants. Hence, it is necessary to research the simultaneous elimination of pollutants and find an appropriate adsorbent with economic viability. Here the tire pyrolyzed carbon (TPC) was chemically activated with KOH at 950 °C. Multiple physical and chemical characterization methods, including XRD, FTIR, BET, XPS, zeta-potential, and point of zero charge, were used to analyze the activated tire carbons. Tire-activated carbon with high surface 660 m²/g area synthesized is ATC 950 1:4. The batch experiments for individual and simultaneous adsorption were conducted with ATC 950 1:4. It has shown cent percent adsorption efficiency for both methylene blue (MB) and methyl orange (MO) during independent and simultaneous adsorption with 1 g/L adsorbent dosage and 30 ppm of pollutant. The adsorptions of MB and MO follow the Langmuir isotherm and pseudo-second-order. The thermodynamic parameters revealed that adsorption of these pollutants is spontaneous and endothermic. The adsorption mechanism involves H-bonding, π-π stacking interactions, and electrostatic interactions. By suitably tuning the surface chemistry of the adsorbent, it is possible to selectively remove the pollutant MB or MO.