Biochar Derived from Sesbania sesban Plant as a Potential Low-Cost Adsorbent for Removal of Methylene Blue

In this study, biochar made from the Sesbania sesban plant, under slow pyrolysis at 300°C was used to adsorb methylene blue (MB) in aqueous solution. The biochar properties were clarified by diverse analytical methods such as FTIR, SEM, and BET. The results indicated that the surface of biochar was relatively smooth, had porous texture, and stacked evenly. In addition, the biochar had a large specific surface area of 561.8 m2/g and the pHpzc value was 6.9. The effect of adsorbent dosage, initial pH, contact time, and concentration of dye solution on biochar were investigated. The optimum conditions for MB adsorption were found at the MB concentration of 50 mg/L, initial pH of 11, biochar mass of 0.6 mg, and contact time of 30 min. Under these optimal conditions, MB dye removal efficiency was above 90%. Adsorption isotherm data were fitted with the Langmuir isotherm model (R2=0.897) suggesting the adsorption was monolayer, and its maximum adsorption capacity was about 6.6 mg/g. The adsorption kinetic models showed that the linear pseudo-second-order by R2=0.999 was well fitted. The results indicated the enormous potential of Sesbania sesban plant to produce biochar as a low-cost and rather high-effective adsorbent for dye removal from wastewater as well as water quality improvement.