Adsorption of Acetaminophen on Activated Carbon Prepared Based on Banana Peel

The objective of this work is to study the decontamination of wastewater containing residues of pharmaceutical products, such as paracetamol, by activated carbon prepared from banana peel. This activated carbon was obtained from biomass commonly produced in Morocco. After cleaning, de-oiling and drying the banana peel, the sample obtained was crushed, sieved, calcined at 500°C, 600°C and 700°C, then activated with 0.5 M sodium hydroxide and characterized by XRD, SEM, EDS, FTIR, ATG, DSC. Paracetamol is an organic micropollutant, it is obtained from Doliprane 500 produced in Morocco, after recrystallization and characterization by Raman and its adsorption on this prepared activated carbon was carried out for the first time during this work. The different samples of the adsorbent-solution mixtures were used under the same conditions of temperature, initial concentration, pH of the initial solution, solid/liquid ratio and stirring speed for each test. The best performance was obtained on the sample prepared at 700°C or 600°C after soda activation. The latter reduces the retention time at equilibrium by about 20 min, whereas the non-chemically activated substrate needs more time to reach equilibrium. The adsorption of paracetamol is optimal at pH 6 or 8 in the case of samples calcined at 600°C and 700°C for 60 min but is poor at 500°C. The Freundlich model best describes the adsorption phenomenon for both PBC600 and PBC700 adsorbents. The adsorption efficiency increases proportionally with the calcination temperature and the activation time, reaching a best value close to 90% for both samples PBC600 and PBC700. The thermodynamic parameters show that the adsorption is spontaneous (DG<0), exothermic (DH<0) and the decrease in disorder of its structure (DS<0).