Adsorption of 3-Aminopyridine (3AP) from aqueous solution using sugarcane bagasse activated carbon (SBAC)

Abstract

Adsorption of 3-Aminopyridine (3AP) from simulated effluent using sugarcane bagasse activated carbon (SBAC) was studied based on batch and continuous operations. Characterization of synthesized SBAC was performed initially using BET and SEM analysis. Different batch experiments were performed to understand the effect of operating parameters such as initial concentration, pH, SBAC dose, time and temperature to understand the effect on the extent of adsorption. The maximum adsorption capacity for batch adsorption was established as 54.4 mg/g whereas the maximum extent of removal was 97.6 % under optimized conditions. The observed data at equilibrium was found to be best fitted to Freundlich and Langmuir adsorption isotherms. Kinetic study revealed that pseudo-second order mechanism prevailed. Desorption of 3AP using ethanol showed good reuse efficacy for five cycles. Column adsorption experiments were also performed under varying SBAC bed height, concentration of 3AP and volumetric flow rate of 3AP solution to determine the breakthrough parameters. The fitting of the Yoon–Nelson and Thomas adsorption models to the obtained breakthrough data was studied and found to be satisfactory. Maximum adsorption capacity of SBAC for adsorption of 3AP in continuous operation was established as 65.6 mg/g. The obtained results demonstrated very good performance of SBAC for effective removal of 3AP in both batch and column operations.