3.2. Performance of AELS Adsorption MB
pH plays an important role in adsorption and can influence the adsorption capacity through the ionization of functional group of absorbent [
31,
32]. The effect of pH on MB adsorption was investigated in the range of pH of 3-10 while keeping the initial concentration of MB and temperature constant, as shown in Figure
Figure 4. a) Influence of different pH on adsorption capacity; (
b) Effect of adsorption dose on MB adsorption capacity and removal rate. As is evident from the figure, the adsorption capacity decreased with the increase of initial pH. At a pH of 3, the adsorption capacity was 118.13 mg g
-1. The adsorption mechanism diagram was shown in Figure
Figure 5. Diagram of adsorption mechanism. With a low pH, AELS was protonated to create amino groups and the active surface was given a positive charge, which then strengthened the electrostatic attraction between the MB molecules and the AELS surface, leading to the diffusion of MB molecules [
33]. The presence of the -OH group on AELS and N atoms of MB molecules encouraged hydrogen bonding, which further aids adsorption, culminating in the attainment of adsorption equilibrium. When the pH was high, the AELS potential gradually decreased, the electrostatic attraction with MB molecules decreased, and the presence of -OH would compete with MB. So, the adsorption capacity decreased [
34]. At an original dye pH of 6, which was not much different from the adsorption with a pH of 3. So, the pH of MB was not changed in the subsequent experiments.
Figure 4.
a) Influence of different pH on adsorption capacity; (b) Effect of adsorption dose on MB adsorption capacity and removal rate.
Figure 4.
a) Influence of different pH on adsorption capacity; (b) Effect of adsorption dose on MB adsorption capacity and removal rate.
Figure 5.
Diagram of adsorption mechanism.
Figure 5.
Diagram of adsorption mechanism.
The adsorbent dose is also an important parameter and can affect the adsorption capacity and removal rate. The result of effect of adsorbent dose about adsorption capacity and removal rate was shown in Figure Figure 4. a) Influence of different pH on adsorption capacity; (b) Effect of adsorption dose on MB adsorption capacity and removal rate. From the figure, it can be seen that with the increase of adsorbent dose from 0.005 g to 0.1 g, the adsorption capacity gradually decreased from 113.99 mg g-1 to 12.26 mg g-1, the removal rate increased from 43% to 99%, the adsorption was gradually saturated and the solution was gradually clarified. The rise in adsorbent dose increased the total surface area and the number of surface-active sites, thus bettering the potential for hydrogen bonding. Nonetheless, the amount of dye molecules in the solution remains constant, causing some of the active sites to not reach full adsorption. Thus, adsorption capacity goes down with the rise of adsorbent and removal increases with the rise of adsorbent. So, the most desirable adsorbent dose was 0.01 g.
The relationship between adsorption capacity and time was shown in Figure
Figure 6. (
a) Relationship between time and adsorption capacity; (
b) AELS adsorption of MB pseudo-first-order kinetic fitting; (
c) AELS adsorption of MB pseudo-second-order kinetic fitting; (
d) AELS adsorption of MB intra-particle diffusion kinetic fitting. The adsorption capacity increased rapidly at the initial stage and then increased slowly and eventually reached equilibrium. This because, there were a large number of active sites existing on the surface at the initial stage of adsorption. However, the number of active sites on the surface of AELS was finite. With the extension of the adsorption time, the active sites gradually saturated, the adsorption rate decreased, and finally reached the adsorption equilibrium [
35].
Figure 6.
(a) Relationship between time and adsorption capacity; (b) AELS adsorption of MB pseudo-first-order kinetic fitting; (c) AELS adsorption of MB pseudo-second-order kinetic fitting; (d) AELS adsorption of MB intra-particle diffusion kinetic fitting.
Figure 6.
(a) Relationship between time and adsorption capacity; (b) AELS adsorption of MB pseudo-first-order kinetic fitting; (c) AELS adsorption of MB pseudo-second-order kinetic fitting; (d) AELS adsorption of MB intra-particle diffusion kinetic fitting.
The kinetic model is an essential tool in the simulation of the adsorption process. The pseudo-first-order kinetic model, pseudo-second-order kinetic model and intra-particle diffusion model were employed to fit the experimental data [
36,
37,
38], and the linear equations were shown as (4), (5) and (6):
Where, k1 is the pseudo-first-order kinetic constant (min-1), k2 is the pseudo-second-order kinetic constant (g mg-1 min-1), Kp is the intra-particle diffusion kinetic constant (mg g-1 min-1/2), and C is the boundary thickness correlation constant. The value of C can determine whether the adsorption process is controlled only by intra-particle diffusion. When C=0, the intra-particle diffusion is the only rate-controlling step in the adsorption process; otherwise, the adsorption is not only controlled by intra-particle diffusion, but also involves complex mechanistic processes, including chemical-physical adsorption and boundary layer control.
The fitting of the pseudo-first-order kinetic, pseudo-second-order kinetic, and intra-particle diffusion models were shown in Figure Figure 6. (a) Relationship between time and adsorption capacity; (b) AELS adsorption of MB pseudo-first-order kinetic fitting; (c) AELS adsorption of MB pseudo-second-order kinetic fitting; (d) AELS adsorption of MB intra-particle diffusion kinetic fitting, and the linear equation parameters shown in Table
. As demonstrated in the figure, the pseudo-second-order kinetic model was a good fit for the experimental data of MB adsorption onto AELS, with an R-squared value of 0.9948. This suggested that the adsorption of MB by AELS was a result of chemisorption taking place through the sharing or exchange of valence electrons between the AELS surface and the active binding site of MB [
39]. As Table
demonstrated, the pseudo-first-order kinetic R-squared value was 0.8691, the intra-particle diffusion R-squared value was 0.7419, and C not being equal to 0, implied that the adsorption process was not only driven by intra-particle diffusion, but also by external mass transfer. The analysis above showed that the adsorption process of AELS on MB followed a pseudo-second-order kinetic model, suggesting that the adsorption process was regulated by the chemisorption mechanism [
40].
Table 3.
Pseudo-first-order kinetics, pseudo-second-order kinetics and intra-particle diffusion fitting parameters.
Table 3.
Pseudo-first-order kinetics, pseudo-second-order kinetics and intra-particle diffusion fitting parameters.
Dynamic model |
Pseudo-first-order kinetics |
Pseudo-second-order kinetics |
Intra-particle diffusion |
Parameters |
R2 K1 q |
0.8691 0.1639 116.70 |
R2 K2 q |
0.9948 0.0016 124.53 |
R2 Kp C |
0.7419 13.0059 31.64 |
The relationship between adsorption capacity and initial concentration and temperature was shown in Figure
Figure 7. (
a) Effect of initial concentration of dye on adsorption capacity; (
b) AELS adsorption of MB Langmuir isotherm fitting; (
c) AELS adsorption of MB Freundlich isotherm fitting; (
d) AELS adsorption of MB Temkin isotherm fitting. It can be seen that with the increase of initial concentration and temperature, the adsorption capacity increased and eventually reached equilibrium. This because, a higher concentration gradient was conducive to MB migration, and improved the resistance barrier between solid and aqueous phases, which was the driving force of overcoming mass transfer [
41]. With the increase of temperature, the mobility of adsorbate increased, improving the accessibility of adsorbent adsorption sites and dye molecules [
42].
Figure 7.
(a) Effect of initial concentration of dye on adsorption capacity; (b) AELS adsorption of MB Langmuir isotherm fitting; (c) AELS adsorption of MB Freundlich isotherm fitting; (d) AELS adsorption of MB Temkin isotherm fitting.
Figure 7.
(a) Effect of initial concentration of dye on adsorption capacity; (b) AELS adsorption of MB Langmuir isotherm fitting; (c) AELS adsorption of MB Freundlich isotherm fitting; (d) AELS adsorption of MB Temkin isotherm fitting.
Adsorption isotherms can reflect the relationship between the adsorption capacity of the adsorbent at equilibrium and the equilibrium concentration of adsorbate in the solution at a specific temperature. Herein, Langmuir, Freundlich and Temkin isotherm models were used to fit the experimental data [
43,
44,
45], and the linear equations were shown in (7), (8), and (9):
Where: Ce (mg g-1) is the concentration of the adsorbent at equilibrium; KL (L mg-1) is a Langmuir constant related to the maximum adsorption capacity and adsorption energy. qmax (mg g-1) is the maximum adsorption capacity of the absorbent; KF (L mg-1) and 1/n are adsorption performance constants and relative adsorption strength parameters related to Freundlich model, respectively; The value of 1/n is generally between 0 and 1, and the magnitude of its value indicates the strength of the effect of concentration on the amount of adsorption; b (J mol-1) is heat of adsorption, A (L mg-1) is the equilibrium binding constant of Temkin model.
The fitting results of the Langmuir, Freundlich and Temkin adsorption isotherm models were shown in Figure Figure 7. (a) Effect of initial concentration of dye on adsorption capacity; (b) AELS adsorption of MB Langmuir isotherm fitting; (c) AELS adsorption of MB Freundlich isotherm fitting; (d) AELS adsorption of MB Temkin isotherm fitting, and the linear equation parameters shown in Table Error! Reference source not found.. As demonstrated in the figure, the Langmuir isotherm model was a good fit for the experimental data of MB adsorption onto AELS, with an R-squared value of 0.9948. This suggested that the adsorption of MB by AELS was monolayer adsorption. As Table Error! Reference source not found. demonstrated, the R-squared values of the other two models were 0.7383 and 0.9147, respectively, which were lower than the R-squared value of the Langmuir isotherm model. Moreover, the maximum adsorption capacity obtained from Langmuir isotherm model was closer to the maximum adsorption capacity obtained by experiment. The results showed that the Langmuir isotherm model could describe the equilibrium well.
Table 4.
Langmuir, Freundlich and Temkin fitting parameters.
Table 4.
Langmuir, Freundlich and Temkin fitting parameters.
T/K |
Langmuir |
Freundlich |
Temkin |
|
qm (mg g-1) |
KL (L mg-1) |
R2 |
KF (L mg-1) |
1/n |
R2 |
b (J mol-1) |
A (L mg-1) |
R2 |
298K |
157.73 |
0.42 |
0.9994 |
66.58 |
0.1897 |
0.7383 |
162.75 |
219.54 |
0.9147 |
303K |
175.44 |
0.32 |
0.9986 |
68.10 |
0.1965 |
0.6416 |
144.81 |
132.08 |
0.8461 |
313K |
187.27 |
0.29 |
0.9987 |
66.20 |
0.2218 |
0.6827 |
129.04 |
60.61 |
0.8887 |
The influence of temperature for adsorption capacity was investigated, the result shown in Figure
Figure 7. (
a) Effect of initial concentration of dye on adsorption capacity; (
b) AELS adsorption of MB Langmuir isotherm fitting; (
c) AELS adsorption of MB Freundlich isotherm fitting; (
d) AELS adsorption of MB Temkin isotherm fitting. From the figure, it can be seen that with the increase of temperature the adsorption capacity increases. The relevant thermodynamic parameters were calculated using the following equations:
Where: ΔG0 (KJ mol-1) is the Gibbs free energy, ΔS0 (J mol-1 K-1) is the entropy change, and ΔH0 (KJ mol-1) is the enthalpy change.
The fitting results of the thermodynamic was shown in Figure Figure 8. (a)Thermodynamic fitting diagram; (b) adsorption and regeneration performance, and the linear equation parameters shown in Table .
. From the table, it can be seen that ΔH
0 and ΔS
0 were both positive and ΔG
0 was negative. ΔH
0 > 0 indicated that the heat-absorbing nature of the adsorption [
46], and ΔG
0 at 25, 35 and 45 ℃ was less than 0, which indicated that adsorption was a spontaneous process. With the increase of temperature, ΔG
0 was getting smaller and smaller, indicating that higher temperature was favorable for adsorption.
Figure 8.
(a)Thermodynamic fitting diagram; (b) adsorption and regeneration performance.
Figure 8.
(a)Thermodynamic fitting diagram; (b) adsorption and regeneration performance.
Table 5.
Thermodynamic fitting parameters.
Table 5.
Thermodynamic fitting parameters.
Thermodynamic parameter |
ΔH0 (KJ mol-1) |
ΔS0 (J mol-1 K-1) |
ΔG0(KJ mol-1) |
298(K) |
303(K) |
313(K) |
MB |
13.49 |
54.95 |
-16.36 |
-16.64 |
-17.19 |
To decrease the cost of wastewater treatment, it is essential for recyclability of adsorbent. So, investigated the recyclability of AELS adsorption for MB, the result was shown in Figure Figure 8. (a)Thermodynamic fitting diagram; (b) adsorption and regeneration performance. From the figure, it can be seen that after five adsorption experiments, the adsorption capacity decreased from 113.99 mg g-1 to 107.95 mg g-1. This because, the irreversible binding of some functional groups in AELS would result in the lowering of adsorption sites, which caused the decrease of the adsorption capacity of AELS. The decrease of about 5.3 percent indicated the reusability of AELS.