2nd BLOG / Research Abstract

I have achieved a 75% of the research work proposed on January 27. The experiments regarding to the adsorption isotherms for MCM-41, were carried out. The analysis of the data suggests that the activated carbon based on shredded tire rubber adsorbs better than the mesoporous (2nm<pore size >50nm) material MCM-41.  Based on these results, I have made the Abstract below.

Please feel free to make suggestions

 

Abstract

Pollution of waters and soils due to 2,4,6-trinitrotolune (TNT) residues, and the generation of  a large quantity of used tires are two environmental problems that threaten the world. The aim of this work was to evaluate the use of a rubber-based activated carbon (RAC) obtained from shredded waste tire rubber and a silica based mesoporous material known as MCM-41 for the adsorption of TNT from aqueous solutions. The RAC was prepared by pyrolysis of shredded tire rubber and subsequent CO2 activation, while the MCM-41 was synthesized by the templating technique using tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS) as silica source and cetyltrimethylammonium chloride (CTAC) as template. Basic characterization of RAC and MCM-41 was performed by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Thermal Gravimetric Analysis (TGA), Fourier Transform Infrared FT-IR spectroscopy and N2-BET (Brunauer, Emmet & Teller) analysis. Adsorptions tests were performed on both materials using 3 to 100 mg/L TNT aqueous solutions. TNT was measured by UV spectrophotometry. The adsorption of TNT using RAC as adsorbent was superior to that of the adsorption using MCM-41 which shown a lower interacation whith TNT. The adsorption isotherms obtained were compared with Freundlich and Langmuir models. The interaction energy value (29.3 ±0.3 kJ/mol) obtained for RAC and TNT, shows that a physisorption process is favored. Our results suggest that the waste tire rubber based AC could be used for the adsorption of TNT as a good alternative in environmental cleaning applications. Future work will be focused on the degradation of the TNT adsorbed. In addition, the use of MCM-41 prepared with a different template will be evaluated looking for a better  MCM-41-TNT interaction.