POTENTIAL APPLICATION OF ORANGE PEELS AS BIO SORBENTS IN THE REMOVAL OF ORGANIC MOLECULES FROM WASTEWATER

Abstract

The presence of contaminants in water is a very serious environmental issue. In order to overcome this problem, the present paper is dedicated to the development and evaluation of the efficiency of materials derived from orange peels toward the removal of dissolved organic molecules from aqueous solutions. UV-VIS spectroscopy was used for the evaluation of the methylene blue (MB) before and after the sorption process. The analysis of the performance of these materials is done by comparing their sorption efficiency with the derived materials from orange peels, directly or with acid-treated ones. Furthermore, the results were compared with activated carbon, which is a well-known material with high sorption performance. The study also involved the evaluation of different conditions (concentration, stirring, adsorption time, etc.) in the sorption efficiency of this molecule. The results show that the material derived from orange peel has very good adsorption properties, making it a serious candidate toward practical applications in wastewater treatment.