Isolation and Characterization of Magnetic Oil Palm Empty Fruits Bunch Cellulose Nanofiber Composite as a Bio-Sorbent for Cu(II) and Cr(VI) Removal

Aina Mardhia Khalid; Md Sohrab Hossain; Norli Ismail; Nor Afifah Khalil; Venugopal Balakrishnan; Muzafar Zulkifli; Ahmad Naim Ahmad Yahaya

doi:10.3390/polym13010112

Isolation and Characterization of Magnetic Oil Palm Empty Fruits Bunch Cellulose Nanofiber Composite as a Bio-Sorbent for Cu(II) and Cr(VI) Removal

Polymers (Basel). 2020 Dec 30;13(1):112. doi: 10.3390/polym13010112.

Authors

Aina Mardhia Khalid¹, Md Sohrab Hossain¹, Norli Ismail¹, Nor Afifah Khalil², Venugopal Balakrishnan³, Muzafar Zulkifli², Ahmad Naim Ahmad Yahaya²

Affiliations

¹ School of Industrial Technology, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Gelugor, Penang 11800, Malaysia.
² University of Kuala Lumpur-Malaysian Institute Chemical & Bioengineering Technology (UniKL-MICET), Lot 1988, Taboh Naning, Alor Gajah, Melaka 78000, Malaysia.
³ Institute for Research in Molecular Medicine (INFORMM), Universiti Sains Malaysia, Gelugor, Penang 11800, Malaysia.

Abstract

In the present study, magnetic oil palm empty fruits bunch cellulose nanofiber (M-OPEFB-CNF) composite was isolated by sol-gel method using cellulose nanofiber (CNF) obtained from oil palm empty fruits bunch (OPEFB) and Fe₃O₄ as magnetite. Several analytical methods were utilized to characterize the mechanical, chemical, thermal, and morphological properties of the isolated CNF and M-OPEFB-CNF. Subsequently, the isolated M-OPEFB-CNF composite was utilized for the adsorption of Cr(VI) and Cu(II) from aqueous solution with varying parameters, such as pH, adsorbent doses, treatment time, and temperature. Results showed that the M-OPEFB-CNF as an effective bio-sorbent for the removal of Cu(II) and Cr(VI) from aqueous solution. The adsorption isotherm modeling revealed that the Freundlich equation better describes the adsorption of Cu(II) and Cr(VI) on M-OPEFB-CNF composite. The kinetics studies revealed the pseudo-second-order kinetics model was a better-described kinetics model for the removal of Cu(II) and Cr(VI) using M-OPEFB-CNF composite as bio-sorbent. The findings of the present study showed that the M-OPEFB-CNF composite has the potential to be utilized as a bio-sorbent for heavy metals removal.

Keywords: cellulose nanofiber; heavy metals adsorption; isotherm modelling; kinetics studies; magnetic bio-sorbent.