Development of Activated Carbon from Cotton Fibre Waste as Potential Mercury Adsorbent: Kinetic and Equilibrium Studies

The study attempted to develop the activated carbon of cotton fibre (ACCF) from cotton waste as a high Hg2+ adsorbent media and characterize physicochemical properties using scanning electron microscopy coupled with energy dispersive spectroscopy (SEM-EDS) and Hg2+ adsorption kinetic by batch adsorption study with the function of contact time, solution pH, dosages of ACCF, and Hg concentration. The SEM-EDS study revealed that ACCF is composed of carbon (95.1%) and phosphorus pentoxide (4.9%). Obtained results of adsorption kinetics showed that 15 min of contact time is required to achieve the equilibrium state and wide range of pH (4.08-7) is favourable for maximum Hg adsorption. The Hg2+ adsorption capacity showed a decreasing trend with increasing dose of ACCF, whereas a reverse response of adsorption capacity was pronounced with increasing Hg concentration. The data was well described by Freundlich isotherm model and determined the high Hg2+ adsorption capacity of ACCF (169.2mg/g). To our knowledge, the application of ACCF in removing Hg2+ is the first study. High Hg2+ adsorption capacity, economic feasibility, availability of cotton fibre waste, and simple preparation method concluded that it could be used as a novel low-cost and environmentally sound adsorbent media for removing high rate of Hg2+ from aqueous phase.