Preliminary study on the synthesis of granular ordered mesoporous carbon–montmorillonite composite adsorbents for removal of water pollutants

Abstract

In this preliminary work, ordered mesoporous carbon–montmorillonite (OMC–M) composite granules were synthesised and tested for the removal of methylene blue and methyl red. The synthesised OMC–M composite granules were characterised using a scanning electron microscope (SEM), an energy dispersive x-ray spectroscope (EDX), and a Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) surface analyser. The OMC–M composite granules were bound using polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) as a binding agent. The swelling/burst effect of the composite granules in distilled water was investigated using different PVA concentrations, ranging from 1% to 5% (w/v) at different observation times of up to 24 hours. The results indicated that there were no significant changes on the average area (1.85 mm) of the OMC–M composite granules when the PVA binder concentration was increased. OMC–M composite granules with 5% (w/v) PVA displayed removal efficiency of 85% and 65% for methylene blue and methyl red, respectively. The results of this study suggested the potential of applying OMC–M composite granules for the removal of various pollutants from an aqueous solution.In this preliminary work, ordered mesoporous carbon–montmorillonite (OMC–M) composite granules were synthesised and tested for the removal of methylene blue and methyl red. The synthesised OMC–M composite granules were characterised using a scanning electron microscope (SEM), an energy dispersive x-ray spectroscope (EDX), and a Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) surface analyser. The OMC–M composite granules were bound using polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) as a binding agent. The swelling/burst effect of the composite granules in distilled water was investigated using different PVA concentrations, ranging from 1% to 5% (w/v) at different observation times of up to 24 hours. The results indicated that there were no significant changes on the average area (1.85 mm) of the OMC–M composite granules when the PVA binder concentration was increased. OMC–M composite granules with 5% (w/v) PVA displayed removal efficiency of 85% and 65% for methylene blue and methyl red, respectively. The results of this study suggested the pot...