Preparation and Characterization of Biochar Derived from Agricultural By-Products for Dye Removal

Abstract

In this study, biochar was derived from the agricultural by-products coconut coir (BC1) and rice husk (BC2) activated with NaOH 25%. This material was characterized through analytical methods such as SEM images, XRD, FTIR, and Raman. Analysis results indicated that the carbon structure carbon is amorphous and with many graphene layers. A high specific surface area was detected with 364.22 m2.g-1 for BC1 and 329.71 m2.g-1 for BC2 with many meso and micropores when analyzed by N2 and CO2 adsorption. The material also showed anionic and cationic dye adsorption capacity for textile wastewater following both Langmuir and Freundlich models where BC2 had better max adsorption capacity compared to BC1, 6.519 mg.g-1 for MO and 8.612 mg.g-1 for MB.