Paper Title
REMOVAL OF MB DYE USING LOW-COST SUGARCANE BAGASSE BIOCHAR IN A SEMIFLUIDIZED BED REACTOR

Abstract
Abstract - In this work composite adsorbent beads prepared from Sugarcane bagasse biochar (SB) entrapped in Calcium-alginate (CASB) to eliminate Methylene Blue dye (MB) from aqueous solution was investigated by a semifluidized bed reactor. Sugarcane bio-char was synthesized from sugarcane bagasse through slow pyrolysis at 500oC in an oxygen-free environment. Both CASB and SB biochar were characterized using FTIR and FESEM. BET and XRD analysis were conducted to understand the surface properties. Batch adsorption kinetics wereperformed to identify and optimize the various physicochemical process parameters such as solution pH, initial dye concentration, temperature, and adsorbent dose and its effects on adsorption mechanism. Results of adsorption kinetics indicates that the adsorption of MB on the adsorbent was mainly by chemi-sorption. Langmuir isotherm model fits well with the experimental data and maximum monolayer adsorption capacity was found to be 113.01 mg/g and 71.21 mg/g at 308K for SB biochar and CASB respectively. In a closed-circuit bed experiment, the effect of initial MB dye concentration, height of the initial bed (adsorbent loading) and liquid feed flow rate on MB removal was studied. The maximum bed capacity of 30.13 mg/g was found at 40 ppm of initial solute concentration, 10 cm bed height, and 2.5 LPM feed flow rate with 95.47% removal of MB. The results gained from this investigation suggest a hopeful future for economical CASB biochar as a novel adsorbent and semi-fluidized bed as an alternative to packed bed and fluidized bed for the removal of MB dye for process effluents. Keywords - Sugarcane bagasse biochar, composite adsorbent, dye removal, adsorption kinetics, batch adsorption, semifluidization, semifluidized bed reactor, closed-circuit operation.