Activated charcoal modified BaFe₁₂O₁₉ powder: a recyclable magnetic adsorbent for removal of methyl blue dye from aqueous solutions

ABSTRACT

Use of sophisticated adsorbent materials to clean harmful dye-contaminated water is rapidly gaining popularity. Among different adsorbent, magnetic ferrites based adsorbent are gaining much attention because of their easy recyclability. In this current work, activated charcoal (AC) modified magnetic BaFe₁₂O₁₉ (BaM) ferrite-based novel adsorbent (BaM-AC) powder was synthesised through a sol-gel combustion route. As a model dye pollutant, methyl blue (MB) was used to estimate the adsorption efficiency of BaM-AC adsorbent. X-ray diffraction (XRD) was utilised to analyse pure BaM and BaM-AC powder phases. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), Brunauer, Emmett and Teller (BET), vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM) and field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM) were also used for the characterisation of prepared adsorbents. The surface area of BaM-AC powder determined by BET was 5.93 m² g⁻¹. The BaM-AC adsorbent has a saturation magnetisation (M_s) of 56.8 emu g⁻¹ and a coercive field (Hc) of 5176 Oe. Microstructural analysis showed the porous morphology of the material. In-depth studies with BaM-AC powder investigated how pH, adsorbent dose, adsorption period, MB dye concentration, and effect of temperature affected MB dye adsorption. Conferring to the outcomes of the MB-adsorption experiment, the equilibrium was reached after around 45 minutes. Pseudo-second-order kinetics and the Sips isotherm model govern the adsorption process. BaM-AC powder exhibited a good recyclability up to five-regeneration cycle. These outcomes suggest that the composite material has the potential to serve as an effective adsorbent for dye-containing wastewater treatment.

KEYWORDS:

• Adsorption
• methyl blue dye
• BaFe₁₂O₁₉
• activated charcoal
• sol-gel combustion

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Acknowledgments

The National Institute of Technology, Rourkela, India, financially supported research.

Disclosure statement

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