Metal nanoparticles decorated mint-cellulose acetate composite as an efficient catalyst for the reduction of methyl orange.

Water contamination caused by toxic compounds has emerged as one of the most severe challenges worldwide. Biomass-based nanocomposites offer a sustainable and renewable alternative to conventional materials. In this study, a nanocomposite of mint and cellulose acetate (Mint-CA) was prepared and employed as a supportive material for Cu nanoparticles (CuNPs) and Ag nanoparticles (AgNPs). The selectivity of CuNPs@mint-CA and AgNPs@mint-CA was assessed by comparing their performance in the reduction reaction of various dyes solutions. AgNPs@mint-CA exhibited superior catalytic performance, with a removal of 95.2 % for methyl orange (MO) compared to 68 % with CuNPs@mint-CA. The absorption spectra of MO exhibited a distinct peak at 464 nm. The reduction reaction of MO by AgNPs@mint-CA followed pseudo-first-order-kinetic with a rate constant of k = 0.0063 min-1 (R2 = 0.928). The highest removal of MO was achieved under the following conditions: a catalyst weight of 40 mg, an initial MO concentration of 0.07 mM, the addition of 0.5 mL of 0.1 M NaBH4, and a temperature of 25 °C. Furthermore, the AgNPs@mint-CA catalyst exhibited exceptional reducibility even after five use cycles, highlighting its potential for efficiently removing MO.

Adsorptive removal of heavy metals and organic dyes by sodium alginate/coffee waste composite hydrogel.

Heavy metals and dyes used in technological applications have a detrimental influence on human health and the environment. The most used methods for removing pollutants depend on high-cost materials. Therefore, this research was conducted on cost-effective alternatives derived from natural resources and food waste. Herein, we designed a composite hydrogel based on sodium alginate/coffee waste (Alg/coffee) as adsorbent for the removal of organic and inorganic pollutants from aquatic solutions. The selectivity study displayed that Alg/coffee is more effective in adsorbing Pb(II) and acridine orange dye (AO). Adsorption of Pb(II) and AO was studied at concentration range of 0-170 mgL-1 and 0-40 mgL-1. Adsorption data of Pb(II) and AO reveals their fitting to Langmuir-isotherm and pseudo-second-order-kinetic models. The findings demonstrated that Alg/coffee hydrogel are more effective than coffee powder itself with an adsorption (%) approaching 98.44 % of Pb(II) and 80.53 % of AO. Real sample analysis reveals the efficiency of Alg/coffee hydrogel beads in Pb(II) adsorption. The adsorption cycle was examined four times providing high efficiency toward Pb(II) and AO. Desorption of Pb(II) and AO was easily performed using HCl eluent. Thus, Alg/coffee hydrogel beads could be promising adsorbent for the removal of organic and inorganic pollutants.