Avocado seed-derived activated carbon for mitigation of aqueous ammonium

Published Date

15 December 2016, Vol.92:34–41, doi:10.1016/j.indcrop.2016.07.016

Title 

Avocado seed-derived activated carbon for mitigation of aqueous ammonium

• Author 

• Yiying Zhu ^a,
• Praveen Kolar ^a,,
• Sanjay B. Shah ^a
• Jay J. Cheng ^a
• P.K. Lim ^b

• aDepartment of Biological and Agricultural Engineering, Campus Box 7625, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, 27695-7625, USA
• bDepartment of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Campus Box 7905, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, 27695-7905, USA

Received 26 January 2016. Revised 24 June 2016. Accepted 14 July 2016. Available online 5 August 2016.

Highlights

• •
  A novel acidic adsorbent was prepared from avocado seeds via methanesulfonic acid activation.
• •
  The adsorbent was effective for ammonium uptake.
• •
  Adsorption was influenced by pH, dosage, and initial adsorbate concentration.
• •
  Adsorption was found to be favorable with a theoretical maximum capacity of 5.4 mg g⁻¹ at 25 °C.

Abstract

There is a significant interest in value-addition of agricultural residues. In the present research, a novel avocado seed-activated carbon prepared from methanesulfonic acid (denoted as AAC-MA) was systematically tested as an adsorbent for removal of ammonium for the first time. SEM characterization technique was employed to identify the structural and morphological properties of the prepared carbon. The effects of pH, adsorbent dosage, initial NH₄⁺ concentrations, and contact time on ammonium removal from aqueous solution were also investigated. Moreover, different kinetic and isotherm models were fit to the experimental data to gain a better understanding of the efficiency and applicability of the adsorption system. The pseudo-second order kinetic model was found to best describe the ammonium adsorption. The equilibrium data were found to conform best to Langmuir isotherm model with a theoretical maximum adsorption capacity of 5.4 mg g⁻¹ at 25 °C. The results clearly suggested that the novel avocado-derived can potentially mitigate ammonium from aqueous systems.

Keywords

• Ammonium adsorption
• Equilibrium isotherm
• Adsorption kinetics
• Wastewater treatment
• SEM
• Methanesulfonic acid

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• ⁎ 
  Corresponding author at: 278 Weaver Labs, Campus Box 7625, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, 27695-7625, USA.

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