Zuorro A., Di Battista A., Lavecchia R., 2013, Magnetically Modified Coffee Silverskin for the Removal of Xenobiotics from Wastewater, Chemical Engineering Transactions, 35, 1375-1380.
Coffee silverskin (CS), a solid waste from the coffee industry, was magnetically modified by contact with an aqueous ferrofluid containing magnetite nanoparticles. The resulting material was characterized by SEM-EDX analysis and X-ray diffraction. To assess the suitability of the magnetically modified CS for the removal of pollutants from wastewaters, both equilibrium and kinetic adsorption experiments were performed. Methylene blue was used as a model contaminant. Equilibrium and kinetic data were fitted by the Langmuir equation and the pseudo-second-order model. A maximum adsorption capacity of 556 mg g–1 and a half-adsorption time ranging from 12.8 to 35.3 min were determined. The magnetically modified adsorbent was regenerated by washing with 0.01 N HCl and recovered from the aqueous solution by a permanent magnet. Overall, the results obtained strongly support the use of the magnetic material developed as a new low-cost adsorbent for the large-scale removal of pollutants from wastewater.
