Open AccessAdsorption of methylene blue on an agro-waste oiltea shell with and without fungal treatment
Author(s) -
Jiayang Liu,
Enzhong Li,
You Xiaojuan,
Chenyang Hu,
Qingguo Huang
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
scientific reports
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.24
H-Index - 213
ISSN - 2045-2322
DOI - 10.1038/srep38450
Subject(s) - sorption , adsorption , methylene blue , langmuir adsorption model , aqueous solution , fourier transform infrared spectroscopy , chemistry , nuclear chemistry , sorbent , trametes versicolor , chromatography , laccase , chemical engineering , organic chemistry , photocatalysis , enzyme , engineering , catalysis
A lignocellulosic waste oiltea shell (OTS) was evaluated as an inexpensive sorbent to remove methylene blue (MB) from aqueous solution. Fungal treatment of OTS increased the MB adsorption by modifying the physicochemical properties of OTS and simultaneously produced laccase as a beneficial co-product. Without fungal treatment, the maximum amount of adsorption ( q m ) of MB by OTS was 64.4 mg/g, whereas the treatment with fungus Pycnoporus sp. and Trametes versicolor increased q m up to 72.5 mg/g and 85.7 mg/g, respectively. This is because of the improved surface area and pore sizes as well as altered chemical compositions. The equilibrium sorption data for OTS both with and without treatment fitted to the Langmuir model, and the sorption rate data well fitted to the pseudo second-order kinetic model. The changes in free energy (Δ G °) and separation factor ( R L ) indicated that the sorption was spontaneous and favorable. Scanning electron microscopy and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy showed the changes in the surface morphology and functional groups of OTS after fungal treatment. The agro-waste OTS could be utilized as a low-cost adsorbent for efficient dye removal, and fungal treatment can serve as a mild and clean technique to increase the adsorptive capacity of OTS.