Development of activated carbon-impregnated alginate*β-cyclodextrin/gelatin beads for highly performance sorption of 2,4-dichlorophenol from wastewater

High surface area microporous activated carbon beads were successfully prepared for removal from aqueous solutions. The polymeric beads were fabricated from sodium alginate (Alg), β-cyclodextrin (β-CD), gelatin (GP) and activated carbon (AC) being used as an efficient 2,4-dichlorophenol (2,4-DCP) removal sorbent. The chemical and morphological analysis of the fabricated beads were investigated using Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), while thermal stability was estimated via thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). The main goal of the recent work is to investigate the activated carbon effect on the sorption process. The impact of experimental parameters like original concentration, pH, and adsorption time was explored. The optimum removal of 86.05% was obtained at pH 7. One hour was sufficient for the full saturation of the active sorbent sites, reaching equilibrium. The pseudo second model was the best to describe the adsorption process. Furthermore, it can be seen from the Langmuir equation that the qm for unmodified and modified beads toward 2,4-DCP were 36.48 mg/g and 39.36 mg/g, respectively.