Comparative Analysis of Adsorption of Acetic Acid by Banana Pseudostem and Commercial Wood Charcoal

Clean drinking and sanitation water is an important social, economic and environmental issue. Due to the large scale of industrialization lot of chemical species, that is, dyes, heavy metals, and inorganic chemicals, are continuously discharged into water resources. There has been a great emphasis on developing inexpensive adsorbents and activated carbon for the treatment of inorganic impurities from wastewater due to the inability of developing countries to use available expensive treatment technologies on a mass scale. Bio-adsorbent characteristics of charcoals are promising for the removal of pollutants from residual waters. The use of biobased charcoals for decolorization processes has gained significant attention. Among these, banana pseudostem charcoal stands out as a promising alternative with its unique properties. This article reveals a comparative analysis of the adsorption capabilities of banana pseudostem charcoal (PSC) in contrast to commercial wood charcoal (WC), shedding light on their efficacy and potential applications. A higher value of n indicated that PSC has a good ability to adsorb acetic acid over its surface as compared to WC. In the SEM analysis of PSC, the pores observed were within two significant size ranges: a larger range from 1.6 to 3 ?m and a smaller, nanoscale range between 720 to 810 nm. This dual-porosity structure suggests that PSC may possess the capacity to adsorb particles of varying sizes, enhancing its versatility as an adsorbent. The larger pores could facilitate the capture of larger molecules, while the nanoscale pores may allow the adsorption of smaller particles, broadening the material's applicability.