Adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system model for adsorption of 1,3,4-thiadiazole-2,5-dithiol onto gold nanoparticales-activated carbon

In this research, a novel adsorbent gold nanoparticle loaded on activated carbon (Au-NP-AC) was synthesized by ultrasound energy as a low cost routing protocol. Subsequently, this novel material characterization and identification followed by different techniques such as scanning electron microscope (SEM), Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) analysis. Unique properties such as high BET surface area (>1229.55 m(2)/g) and low pore size (<22.46 angstrom) and average particle size lower than 48.8 angstrom in addition to high reactive atoms and the presence of various functional groups make it possible for efficient removal of 1,3,4-thiadiazole-2,5-dithiol (TDDT). Generally, the influence of variables, including the amount of adsorbent, initial pollutant concentration, contact time on pollutants removal percentage has great effect on the removal percentage that their influence was optimized. The optimum parameters for adsorption of 1,3,4-thiadiazole-2, 5-dithiol onto gold nanoparticales-activated carbon were 0.02 g adsorbent mass, 10 mg L-1 initial 1,3,4-thiadiazole-2,5-dithiol concentration, 30 min contact time and pH 7. The Adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS), and multiple linear regression (MLR) models, have been applied for prediction of removal of 1,3,4-thiadiazole-2,5-dithiol using gold nanoparticales-activated carbon (Au-NP-AC) in a batch study. The input data are included adsorbent dosage (g), contact time (min) and pollutant concentration (mg/l). The coefficient of determination (R-2) and mean squared error (MSE) for the training data set of optimal ANFIS model were achieved to be 0.9951 and 0.00017, respectively. These results show that ANFIS model is capable of predicting adsorption of 1,3,4-thiadiazole-2,5-dithiol using Au-NP-AC with high accuracy in an easy, rapid and cost effective way. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.