Preparation of Activated Carbon from Sugarcane Bagasse and Removal of Color and Organic Matter from Real Textile Wastewater

Abstract

Textile wastewaters (TW) contain contaminants such as organic matter, dyes, sulfate, and many salts. Many methods have been used to remove these pollutants and to reduce the environmental impact associated with their release into water bodies. In the present study, physically activated carbon made of sugar cane bagasse was used as an adsorbent to remove color and chemical oxygen demand (COD) from textile effluent. The experiments were carried out with a real effluent from a textile jeans laundry. The effect of the variables, such as adsorbent amount, pH, contact time, temperature, and particle size of the adsorbent, was tested. The most efficient results were obtained for the adsorbent mass of 0.25 g, pH 6.0, contact time of 60 min, and adsorbent size smaller than 0.42 mm. The adsorbent performed well for color removal of textile effluent, removing up to 93% and 55% of color and COD, respectively. The Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) surface area and total pore volume were 188.2 m² g⁻¹ and 0.13 cm³ g⁻¹, respectively, and average sizes of pore diameter of 2.7 nm and 3.6 nm. This indicates the ability of agro-industrial waste for application in the process of textile wastewater treatment.