Preparation of activated carbon from sewage sludge using green activator and its performance on dye wastewater treatment

ABSTRACT

The remediation of dyes in wastewater using activated carbon produced from sewage sludge pyrolysis char (PYC) is an environmentally friendly and sustainable process. However, traditional activators can cause corrosion of the processing facility, thereby increasing the costs of waste disposal. Here, activated carbons were prepared from sewage sludge PYC, and the effects of activation conditions (different activators, temperature and time, and char:activator mass ratio) on their specific surface areas and adsorption of iodine and methylene blue (MB; model dye) were studied. The results showed that a value of 952 m²/g could be attained for the specific surface area and values of 882 and 162 mg/g for the adsorption of iodine and MB, respectively, by heating PYC with KHCO₃ (PYC- KHCO₃: 1:2 w/w) for 60 min at 800 ℃. Compared with activation by KOH, the adsorption of MB using PYC-KHCO₃ was slightly lower but the yield was 13.7% higher. Optimization of the activation process using surface response modelling indicated that sensitivity of three key factors to the adsorption of iodine and MB followed the order: Mass ratio > temperature > time. Systematic investigation of the effects of time, pH and temperature on the removal of MB by the activated carbon revealed that adsorption conformed to the Langmuir model and pseudo-second-order kinetics. The proposed mechanisms of MB adsorption involved ion exchange, functional group complexation and physical/π-π interactions. This study provides a basis for the efficient remediation of dyes in wastewater using activated carbon prepared from sustainable sewage sludge PYC and green chemistry.

GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT

KEYWORDS:

• Activated carbon
• sewage sludge char
• pyrolysis char
• dye wastewater
• potassium bicarbonate

Acknowledgments

The work was supported financially by the National Key R&D Program of China (2018YFC1901204) and Shanghai Sailing Program (grant number 19YF1416700).

Disclosure statement

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

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Shanghai Sailing Program: [Grant Number 19YF1416700]; National Key R&D Program of China: [Grant Number 2018YFC1901204].