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Agro-industrial residues left after essential oil extraction from Artemisia atlantica can be converted into activated carbon using phosphoric acid. Chemical activation enhances the material surface area and introduces oxygen-rich functional groups, creating an effective adsorbent for cationic dyes in wastewater. Process optimization identified optimal operating conditions at pH 9, yielding removal efficiencies exceeding 95 percent. The activated carbon achieved maximum adsorption capacities of 170.36 milligrams per gram for crystal violet and 153.14 milligrams per gram for methylene blue, substantially outperforming the raw plant precursor. Adsorption was confirmed to be spontaneous and exothermic, driven primarily by electrostatic interactions and charge transfer. Furthermore, the material retained its performance across repeated regeneration cycles, withstood competing inorganic ions, and successfully treated real textile wastewater by reducing dye concentrations, organic load, turbidity, and electrical conductivity.
Industrial dye effluents, especially from textile manufacturing, pose serious environmental hazards if discharged without adequate treatment. Converting discarded agricultural residues from essential oil processing into activated carbon offers a dual benefit. It prevents agro-industrial waste accumulation while providing an affordable, sustainable, and reusable filter material capable of purifying heavily contaminated water to protect downstream ecosystems.
This research demonstrates an applied and tested wastewater treatment method relevant to textile manufacturers and industrial effluent treatment operators. By showing high reusability and successfully reducing contaminants in real textile wastewater, the adsorbent demonstrates clear technical promise. The process appears to be at an applied laboratory stage, meaning further scale-up studies and continuous-flow pilot testing would be necessary to progress towards industrial adoption.
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This study presents a sustainable strategy for converting post-essential-oil extraction Artemisia atlantica residues into phosphoric acid-activated carbon (ACAA) for the removal of cationic dyes from wastewater. This underutilized agro-industrial residue is a low-cost, renewable, lignocellulosic, and carbon-rich precursor whose valorization supports waste minimization and circular bioeconomy principles. The study also integrates Box–Behnken Design (BBD) for process optimization with Density Functional Theory (DFT) calculations to clarify the adsorption mechanism. Chemical activation increased the BET surface area from 25.87 to 98.45 m² g⁻¹ and produced a porous structure rich in oxygen-containing functional groups, as confirmed by FTIR, SEM, and TGA analyses. BBD identified pH, adsorbent dosage, and contact time as the most influential factors. The quadratic model accurately predicted optimum conditions of pH 9, 0.20 g adsorbent, and 200 min, achieving removal efficiencies above 95%. The maximum Langmuir adsorption capacities were 170.36 mg g⁻¹ for crystal violet (CV) and 153.14 mg g⁻¹ for methylene blue (MB), compared with 32.85 and 61.88 mg g⁻¹, respectively, for the raw precursor. Adsorption followed the pseudo-second-order model (R² > 0.96) and the Langmuir isotherm (R² > 0.99). Thermodynamic analysis confirmed spontaneous and exothermic adsorption, with ΔH° values of −23.38 kJ mol⁻¹ for CV and −9.91 kJ mol⁻¹ for MB. DFT calculations showed that the ACAA@MB complex had the lowest HOMO–LUMO energy gap (1.12 eV), indicating the strongest electronic interaction and adsorption affinity. Electrostatic interactions and charge transfer were identified as the dominant mechanisms. ACAA also maintained high efficiency over repeated adsorption–desorption cycles, resisted common competing inorganic ions, and successfully treated real textile wastewater, substantially reducing dye concentration, COD, BOD₅, turbidity, and electrical conductivity. These results demonstrate the strong potential of ACAA as a sustainable and robust adsorbent for advanced wastewater treatment.
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DOI: 10.1016/j.nxmate.2026.103123
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