Sono-synthesised algae-based magnetic mesoporous adsorbent for dye adsorption: Characterization, reusability and toxicity assessment

ABSTRACT

In this work, filamentous algae-based activated carbon was composited with Fe₃O₄ nanoparticles and applied as a potential adsorbent to remove Basic Blue 41. AAC/Fe₃O₄ nanocomposite was synthesised by the impregnation method and characterised by several techniques including, FTIR, FESEM, EDX, TGA, XRD, VSM, and BET. The characterisation results confirmed the existence of Fe₃O₄ in the nanocomposite structure, which had uniformly dispersed over AAC with mesoporous texture. The effects of various operational parameters on removal efficiency were investigated. The maximum AAC/Fe₃O₄ nanocomposite adsorption capacity (141 mg g⁻¹) and removal rate (96.76%) were determined under optimum conditions (initial concentration of 100 mg L⁻¹, solution pH of 9, nanocomposite dose = 1 g L⁻¹ at 25°C for 90 min). The obtained adsorption data fitted well with the pseudo-second-order Langmuir isotherm model. The reusability assessment of AAC/Fe₃O₄ nanocomposite (with acidic solution) revealed about 11% decreases in the removal efficiency after five consecutive runs. Finally, bioassay studies using D. Magna confirmed AAC/Fe₃O₄ nanocomposite could create low toxicity and acceptable quality effluents. These attractive features make it a potential adsorbent for practical application in actual textile wastewater treatment.

KEYWORDS:

• Adsorption
• filamentous algae
• activated carbon
• fe₃o₄ nanoparticle
• basic blue 41 dye

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to acknowledge Ardabil University of Medical Sciences for financial and instrumental supports (code: IR.ARUMS.REC.1396.225).

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

All relevant data are included in the paper or Supplementary Information.

Supplementary material

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Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Ardabil University of Medical Sciences [IR.ARUMS.REC.1396.225].