Coal fly ash coated with carbon hybrid nanocomposite for remediation of cadmium (II) and photocatalytic application of the spent adsorbent for reuse

• Main Authors: Emmanuel Christopher Umejuru, Eswaran Prabakaran, Kriveshini Pillay
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier 2020-09-01
• Series: Results in Materials
• Subjects: Coal flyash; Carbon hybrid nanocomposite; Cadmium; Adsorption; Photocatalytic reuse
• Online Access: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2590048X20300595
• ISSN: 2590-048X

In this study, coal fly ash coated with a carbon hybrid nanocomposite (CFA/C HNCPs) was synthesised using a hydrothermal method and applied for the adsorption of cadmium ions (Cd2+) from aqueous solution. The possibility of reusing the spent adsorbent (Cd2+ loaded adsorbent referred to CFA/C–Cd2+ HNCPs) for the photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue dye (MB) was also investigated. CFA/C HNCPs exhibited rapid adsorption of Cd2+ ions through a pseudo second order kinetics model whereas the data was well fitted by the Langmuir Isotherm model. In addition, the Cd2+ loaded spent adsorbent played an important role for the photocatalytic degradation of MB with a percentage degradation of 97.41%. Interestingly, this is a new approach for the reuse of Cd2+ adsorbed material for photocatalytic application, which has significant environmental impact for reduction of waste derived from conventional adsorption techniques.