Ali Bumajdad

Abstract:

Cyperus Papyrus (CP) is abundantly available and fast grown plant in the marshlands of Arabian Gulf region. This valuable source of biomass is unfortunately burnt on field as waste that causes severe toxic haze, plant nutrient decline, global warming, and environment threat. CP has been used in this study to produce a nitrogen rich activated carbon (N-CPAC) for remove of typical toxic heavy metal ions from wastewater. The biomasses were carbonized at 600C and a quaternary ammonium compound was used for N-enrichment. Application of K2CO3 as a pore forming agent during activation process caused wide-ranged porous structure inside the AC which resulted in high specific surface area materials of 822 m2/g. The surface morphology of CP was observed through Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), while the presence of functional groups and the percentage of incorporated nitrogen into the AC structure were analyzed through Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and Elementary Analysis (EA), respectively. The nitrogen content in the AC was raised from 0 to 3% after carbonization with ammonium compound. Among other functional groups, the development of graphitic N was confirmed by the FTIR. A practicable modeling approach, through statistical techniques, has been proposed with the purpose of predicting the optimum operating conditions of maximum adsorption of Cr(VI). Significant removal percent (93.5%) of Cr(VI) ions from synthetic wastewater was achieved. This research is closely aligned with the policy number 6 (Clean Water and Sanitation) and 13 (Climate Action), under Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) policy.