Sudarsan Sujesh, Murugesan Gokulakrishnan, Varadavenkatesan Thivaharan, Vinayagam Ramesh, Selvaraj Raja
Department of Chemical Engineering, Manipal Institute of Technology, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal, Karnataka, 576104, India.
Department of Biotechnology, M.S.Ramaiah Institute of Technology, Bengaluru, Karnataka, 560054, India.
Sci Rep. 2025 Jan 13;15(1):1831. doi: 10.1038/s41598-025-86032-9.
This report investigates the preparation, characterization, and application of activated carbon derived from Spathodea campanulata flowers (SCAC) to remove Congo Red (CR) dye from aqueous streams. SCAC was synthesized using orthophosphoric acid activation which yielded a mesoporous material with a specific surface area of (986.41 m/g), significantly exceeding values reported for flower-derived activated carbons in the available literature. Field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) image revealed an irregular, rough surface morphology pre-adsorption, which became smoother post-adsorption, indicating successful CR attachment. Elemental analysis through energy-dispersive x-ray spectroscopy (EDS) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) confirmed an increase in carbon content and the appearance of sulfur, verifying CR uptake. Adsorption kinetics obeyed the pseudo-second-order equation, signifying chemisorption, while the equilibrium dataset fitted better to the Langmuir model, with R of 0.9944, suggesting a monolayer adsorption mechanism with a maximum adsorption capacity of 59.27 mg/g. Thermodynamic analysis revealed spontaneous and endothermic adsorption process. Desorption studies showed methanol as the most effective desorbing agent, with SCAC retaining considerable adsorption capacity across six cycles, highlighting its reusability. In tests with real water matrices, SCAC demonstrated significantly higher removal efficiency in natural waters than control, suggesting enhanced adsorption in complex matrices. These findings underscore the practical applicability of SCAC in real-world wastewater treatment, offering a promising solution for large-scale industrial applications.
本报告研究了源自非洲郁金香树花的活性炭（SCAC）的制备、表征及其在去除水流中刚果红（CR）染料方面的应用。采用正磷酸活化法合成了SCAC，得到了一种介孔材料，其比表面积为986.41 m²/g，大大超过了现有文献中报道的花衍生活性炭的值。场发射扫描电子显微镜（FESEM）图像显示，吸附前表面形态不规则且粗糙，吸附后变得更光滑，表明CR成功附着。通过能量色散X射线光谱（EDS）和X射线光电子能谱（XPS）进行的元素分析证实了碳含量的增加和硫的出现，验证了CR的吸附。吸附动力学符合准二级方程，表明为化学吸附，而平衡数据集更符合朗缪尔模型，R值为0.9944，表明为单层吸附机制，最大吸附容量为59.27 mg/g。热力学分析表明吸附过程是自发的且吸热的。解吸研究表明甲醇是最有效的解吸剂，SCAC在六个循环中保持了相当大的吸附容量，突出了其可重复使用性。在实际水基质测试中，SCAC在天然水中的去除效率明显高于对照，表明在复杂基质中的吸附增强。这些发现强调了SCAC在实际废水处理中的实际适用性，为大规模工业应用提供了一个有前景的解决方案。
