Low cost adsorbents have been extensively reported for use as a promising substitution for commercial adsorbents for pollutant removal in water and wastewater treatment. In this study, hydrochar produced from the hydrothermal carbonization (HTC) of faecal sludge (FS) (called HTC-hydrochar) was further chemically modified with KOH (called KOH-hydrochar) to improve its surface functional groups, which were suitable for copper (Cu) removal. The adsorption of Cu was conducted using the produced HTC-hydrochar and KOH-hydrochar as absorbents. Experimental results showed the KOH-hydrochar could adsorb Cu at the maximum adsorption capacity of 18.6 mg-Cu/g-hydrochar with Cu removal efficiency of 93%, relatively higher than the HTC-hydrochar and a commercial powdered activated carbon. The quantity of the surface functional groups of the adsorbents was more effective in Cu removal than the surface area. The Cu adsorption mechanism was found to follow the pseudo-second order and intra-particle diffusion models and fit well with Freundlich and Langmuir isotherms. Application of hydrothermal carbonization could be a novel candidate to convert FS into hydrochar which is pathogen free, and to employ the produced hydrochar as an adsorbent to remove Cu from industrial wastewaters.
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Research Article|
January 02 2017
Isotherm models and kinetics of copper adsorption by using hydrochar produced from hydrothermal carbonization of faecal sludge
Thammarat Koottatep;
Thammarat Koottatep
1Environmental Engineering and Management, School of Environment, Resources and Development, Asian Institute of Technology, Pathumthani, Thailand
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Krailak Fakkaew;
1Environmental Engineering and Management, School of Environment, Resources and Development, Asian Institute of Technology, Pathumthani, Thailand
E-mail: p-krai@hotmail.com
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Nutnicha Tajai;
Nutnicha Tajai
1Environmental Engineering and Management, School of Environment, Resources and Development, Asian Institute of Technology, Pathumthani, Thailand
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Chongrak Polprasert
Chongrak Polprasert
2Department of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Thammasat University, Pathumthani, Thailand
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Journal of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene for Development (2017) 7 (1): 102–110.
Article history
Received:
August 25 2016
Accepted:
November 20 2016
Citation
Thammarat Koottatep, Krailak Fakkaew, Nutnicha Tajai, Chongrak Polprasert; Isotherm models and kinetics of copper adsorption by using hydrochar produced from hydrothermal carbonization of faecal sludge. Journal of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene for Development 1 March 2017; 7 (1): 102–110. doi: https://doi.org/10.2166/washdev.2017.132
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