1. Preparation of filter by alkali activation of blast furnace slag and its application for dye removal
- Author
-
Bhuyan, M. A. (M. A. H.), Gebre, R. K. (R. K.), Finnilä, M. A. (M. A. J.), Illikainen, M. (M.), and Luukkonen, T. (T.)
- Subjects
Methylene blue ,Process Chemistry and Technology ,Wastewater treatment ,02 engineering and technology ,010402 general chemistry ,021001 nanoscience & nanotechnology ,01 natural sciences ,Pollution ,6. Clean water ,0104 chemical sciences ,Filter design ,Regeneration ,Chemical Engineering (miscellaneous) ,Adsorption ,0210 nano-technology ,Waste Management and Disposal - Abstract
This study demonstrates a high-value valorization of blast furnace slag in foamed alkali-activated filters for adsorption applications, using methylene blue as a model compound. The filters were prepared by combining alkali activation of blast furnace slag with direct foaming, followed by curing at 60 °C for 4 h. Five different surfactants were compared for the stabilization of foams. Based on an initial screening, the Triton X-405 surfactant was selected for further studies. The dosages of selected surfactant and H₂O₂ were optimized to obtain compressive strength of 2.59 MPa and specific surface area of 83.3 m²/g for powdered material and 78.31 m²/g for foam pieces. Porosity was determined as 64%, 65%, or 50% by using gas pycnometry, Archimedes method, or X-ray microtomography, respectively. The optimized filter mix design was applied for methylene blue removal in continuous column experiments at two influent concentrations (5 and 10 ppm) by using constant empty-bed contact time of ~9 min (flowrate of ~1 L/h). After 6 h, for both influent concentrations, the dye removal was still 74%, with the initial removal of ~100%. The saturated filter could be regenerated by a thermal treatment resulting improved adsorption performance. When the material was employed as powder, the maximum adsorption capacity was 60.35 mg/g according to the Langmuir isotherm (R² = 0.99) and adsorption kinetics followed the pseudo-second order model. The results demonstrate preliminarily that porous filters prepared in this study have potential to be used in industrial wastewater treatment.
- Published
- 2022