Coffee spent supported Fe-Al-Zr composite: Synthesis, characterization and its adsorptive dye removal from tannery wastewater

Abstract

ABSTRACT. This work was conducted to evaluate the adsorption performance of coffee spent modified Fe-Al-Zr composite. The Al₂O₃/Fe₃O₄/ZrO₂ ternary oxide system was efficiently synthesized from the respective salt precursors by a two-step co-precipitation method under nitrogen atmosphere in basic condition. XRD, SEM-EDX, FTIR and ICP-OES were used to characterize the features of the adsorbents. The pH point of zero charge of the selected adsorbent was also determined. Batch adsorption experiment was conducted under different conditions such as contact time, initial concentration of dye, pH, sorbent dosage and agitation speed. The Langmuir and Freundlich, isotherms were tested to examine the adsorption behavior. The equilibrium data was well fitted to Langmuir isotherm model. The maximum adsorption capacity (q_o) was 8.4 mg/g for acidic brown 75 dyes. The kinetic data correlated (R² = 0.999) well with the pseudo second order kinetic model. To evaluate the practical applicability of the coffee spent supported nanocomposite adsorbent to real samples, effluent was collected from Batu Leather Industry. The result demonstrated 95.7% (10 mg/L) removal efficiency of the dye by the as-obtained composite indicating its potential application for environmental application.

KEY WORDS: Coffee spent, Nanocomposite, Sorption, Textile dye, Immobilization

Bull. Chem. Soc. Ethiop. 2023, 37(4), 875-889.                                                             

DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.4314/bcse.v37i4.6