Arachis Hypogaea Shells Derived Mesopores and Ultra-Micropores Carbons via Thermal Methods for Dyes Removal: Evaluation of ANN Modelling
摘要
Water pollution is the biggest challenge in the current scenario. Using abundant ground-nut shells to produce effective porous carbon is a smart choice. Chemically modified activated carbon was prepared through hydrothermal and thermochemical carbonization methods. Formation of ultra-microporous, textured, oxygen-rich structures, as confirmed by XRD, FTIR, SEM–EDX, FE-SEM, and BET analyses. Adsorption experiments revealed that TCAC (0.2 g/L) displayed remarkable adsorption capacities of 137.64 mg/g for SO and 221.87 mg/g for MB, exceeding earlier findings. The adsorption process adhered to pseudo-second-order kinetics, signifying a chemisorption process. Isotherm analysis showed that the Langmuir model affirms monolayer adsorption. BET analysis showed a very low surface area for HTAC (2.73 m2/g) and a highly developed porous structure in TCAC (646.68 m2/g), which responded to the superior adsorption performance. Mechanistic insights indicated that π-π interactions, electrostatic attraction, pore filling, and hydrogen bonding were pivotal in adsorption. The pHzpc of HTAC and TCAC was between 7.2 and 7.5, suggesting a nearly neutral surface charge that promotes cationic dye adsorption. Through ANN modelling, trained using experimental data, demonstrated remarkable predictive accuracy, achieving R2 values nearly equal to 1. TCAC showed superior regeneration and reusability, maintaining over 92% efficiency across five cycles and outperforming previously reported adsorbents for real-time cationic dye removal.
Graphical Abstract