Utilization of Cigarette Butts Waste as Activated Carbon for Tannin Adsorption in Cigarette Industry Wastewater

The aim of this work is to assess the potential of the cigarette butt waste as KOH-activated carbon (AC-CBW) in removing the tannins from the wastewater of the cigarette industry. The carbonized product was characterized using ATR-FTIR, SEM, SAA, and XRD. After the characterization, the tannin adsorption capacities of AC-CBW were evaluated for different conditions such as adsorbent mass and its contact time with solution, solution pH, and initial tannin concentration. The findings suggest that AC-CBW was amorphous, with a heterogeneous and rough surface topography and a surface area of 143.14 m².g⁻1. The detection of hydroxyl (–OH) and carbonyl (C=O) functional groups at 3225 and 1690 cm⁻1, respectively, were suggestive of the potential to absorb tannins. The highest adsorption efficiency was at 0.3 g adsorbent with 120 min contact time, pH 2, and 20 mg.L⁻1 tannin solution. The experimental adsorption isotherm and kinetic data were best fitted to the pseudo-second-order, Temkin model, and the AC-CBW achieved 86.76% removal efficiency of the tannin from the wastewater of cigarette industry which proves that the adsorbent is effective in the removal of tannins from the textile industry wastewater.