Preparation and Characterization of Nano-lignin Biomaterial to Remove Basic Red 2 dye from aqueous solutions

The present study prepares alkali lignin (AL) via acidification of black liquor, obtained from a pulp and paper factory. The average molecular weight of AL (equal to 2,530 g/mol) has been determined with gel permeation chromatography. AL has been modified by ethylene glycol, while lignin nanoparticles (LN) has been prepared through acid precipitation technology, their size being assessed by means of DLS to show that the average diameter of the nanoparticles at pH = 4 has been 52.7 nm. Afterwards, it has used AL and LN to remove Basic Red 2 (BR2) from aqueous solutions.
The absorbent structures and morphologies of AL and LN have been investigated using SEM, and FT-IR spectroscopy.
The optimal conditions for the absorption of AL and LN, using 0.1 gr of the absorbent, include 100 min of duration, at pH of 7, and an initial dye concentration amounting to 100 mg/L. Furthermore, the absorption amount has been mathematically described as a function of experimental parameters, modeled by means of Response Surface Methodology (RSM). A central composite design (CCD) has been applied to evaluate the impacts of four independent variables. Optimum absorption values, obtained via empirical methods, completely match with the values, calculated by the program called Design-Expert.
Both absorbent AL and LN show agree with Langmuir Isotherm with maximum absorption capacities of AL and LN being 55.2 mg/gr and 81.9 mg/gr, respectively. The experimental results show that both absorbent LN and AL follow both pseudo-second kinetic and the intraparticle diffusion models.