Removal of pollutants from liquid and gaseous effluents by adsorbents prepared from waste biomass

Abstract

Carbon dioxide accumulation in the atmosphere and the presence of dyes in water resources are severe environmental issues to be solved. Consequently, in this work, adsorption is proposed as an efficient technique for both CO₂ capture from post-combustion process streams and dye removal from aqueous solutions. Pine sawdust, an eco-friendly and abundant residue from the wood industry, was used as adsorbent directly and after its conversion in biochar and activated carbons. The materials produced were thoroughly characterized and applied for CO₂ capture and for acid wood dye removal in batch and continuous mode analyzing the effect of various operational conditions. The results obtained demonstrated that pine sawdust-based carbons are promising alternatives to commercial activated carbons for the applications proposed.