Removal of impurities from industrial hydrogen peroxide using carbon‐based adsorbents

Abstract BACKGROUND Adsorption is a widely used technique for separating impurities in various industries. This method offers flexibility in design and operation and results in the production of high‐quality purified wastewater. This experimental research investigates the effectiveness of carbon‐based adsorbents, such as graphene, graphene oxide and carbon dots, in removing impurities and increasing hydrogen peroxide concentration through adsorption. RESULTS Various characterization techniques were used to investigate each adsorbent's chemical properties and surface morphology, including Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, X‐ray diffraction, field emission scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy and Brunauer–Emmett–Teller analysis. According to adsorption tests under the defined conditions, the synthesized graphene showed the highest efficiency in impurities removal from hydrogen peroxide, with purity level of 45%. Graphene showed higher efficiency than graphene oxide and carbon dot samples, with a purity of 36% and 32%, respectively. Various factors, such as time, temperature and adsorbent dosage, were investigated at different stages of the experiments. The results show that the adsorption of impurities on carbon‐based adsorbents is an exothermic process. CONCLUSION It was shown that graphene structure results in an adsorption capacity of up to 147.06 mg g −1 , which was increased by 45% in comparison to graphene oxide and carbon dot as adsorbents. To gain further insights, isothermal and kinetic experiments on the adsorption of hydrogen peroxide were performed. The results indicate compliance with the Freundlich isotherm, suggesting multilayer adsorption and pseudo‐second‐order kinetics. © 2024 Society of Chemical Industry (SCI).