Canadian Journal of Pure & Applied Sciences

Abstract: The utilization of commercially activated carbon (AC) for the synthetic dye uptake even at low concentration is seen as a promising technique with high efficiency and simple operation; however, the cost of its production is too high. Thus, there is the need to focus much attention on the fabrication of AC derived from waste agricultural products. To this end, sugarcane bagasse (SB) was carefully modified via carbonization to formed AC and was subsequently deployed for the uptake of methylene blue (MB) in batch experiments. The prepared adsorbent was characterized using XRD, SEM, FTIR and TGA. Fourier transformed infrared (FT-IR) revealed that the surface of the biomass contained –OH, –C=C-, - NH2, –C?N and C-O functional groups as the binding forces in the adsorption of MB, while the microstructure revealed porous nanocrystals morphology. XRD analysis of SB showed a pattern for cellulose type I. Isotherm study showed that equilibrium data fitted well with and governed by Freundlich model. Langmuir isotherm maximum adsorption capacities were 13.350 and 23.340 mg g-1 for unmodified sugarcane bagasse (SB) and modified sugarcane bagasse (MSB) respectively. Information from the kinetic investigations suggested that the adsorption of MB by SB followed the pseudo first-order model, while that of the prepared activated carbon was best described by pseudo second-order model. The values of standard enthalpy and the entropy changes obtained in the temperature range of 25–55°C are 34.20 kJmol?1 and 14.90 kJmol?1K?1 for unmodified SB and 65.69 kJmol?1 and 2.23 kJmol?1K?1 for the primed activated carbon respectively. Thus, SB waste can be successfully utilized for the elimination of MB from polluted water.