Applying of zero residue level concept in integrated management of toxic and solid wastes as a sustainable approach

This study aims to explore a dual-purpose approach for environmental and construction challenges by investigating the adsorption of Iron (III) from produced water using almond shells.Also, it seeks to provide an innovative solution by evaluating the potential of the adsorbent and its subsequent use as a sustainable additive in concrete.Employing simulating contaminated solutions, the operating parameters studied were iron concentration, pH, agitation speed, initial iron ion concentration, almond shell dose, treatment time and temperature.The obtained outcomes exhibited that the highest adsorption capacity and the iron recovery from aqueous solutions were 20.376 mgg -1 and 96.52%, respectively.The results also indicated that the process obeyed the Langmuir and the intraparticle diffusion models with a correlation coefficient of 0.9999, according to the isothermal and kinetic studies, respectively.Thermodynamically, the adsorption was favorable randomness, endothermic and spontaneous, and was of the chemical type according to the enthalpy value.FTIR examination showed that the almond shells before adsorption possessed a number of functional groups, while the SEM test showed that the adsorption medium suffered significant changes as a result of treatment with solutions contaminated with iron.The surface area of virgin almond shells was 7.7 m 2 g -1 and adsorption led to the accumulation of iron ions and reduced this area to less than 0.75 m 2 g -1 after the end of treatment.The remnant Fe +3 -almond shells was tested to use as a reinforcing material for concrete mixture of (4:2:1).The results showed that 2.8 wt.% was the best ratio and the compressive strength increased by more than 206% and 195% for the 7-and 28-days tested concrete cubes, respectively.