Sugarcane molasses derived carbon sheet@sea sand composite for direct removal of methylene blue from textile wastewater: Industrial wastewater remediation through sustainable, greener, and scalable methodology

[Display omitted] •We present novel, simple, scalable and green approach to build a carbon composite for wastewater treatment.•The decoration of molasses derived carbon sheets (CS) on sea sand (SS) was conducted via simple mixing and annealing.•CS@SSC exhibited maximum adsorption capacity of ca. 71.67 mg.g-1 towards methylene blue in acidic conditions.•CS@SSC was practically implemented for removal of pollutants directly from textile effluents.•Regenerable adsorbent with good adsorption capacity was found to be up to 10 cycles. Developing robust carbon based composites as an efficient adsorbent for the removal of dyes using renewable and environmentally friendly raw material source is of paramount importance. Herein, we present an innovative, simple, scalable and environmentally friendly approach to assemble a carbon composite for wastewater treatment. Particularly, this study demonstrates successful decoration of molasses derived carbon sheets (CS) on sea sand (SS) via simple mixing and annealing under the mild thermal condition. Moreover, the designing of carbon sheets sea sand composite (hereafter denoted as CS@SSC) was conducted by employing abundantly available SS and molasses which is the major and greener byproduct of sugarcane industry. As-synthesized CS@SSC was confirmed by means of X-ray Diffraction (XRD), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Brunauer-Emmett-Teller Analysis (BET), Fourier-transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS), Raman and Thermo Gravimetric Analysis (TGA). The adsorption behaviors of CS@SSC were observed as dependence on pH, adsorbent dosage, initial concentration of methylene blue (MB), and contact time. Notably, π-π interaction plays an important role in adsorption at highly acidic pH. The CS@SSC exhibited maximum adsorption capacity of ca. 71.67 mg g−1 towards MB in acidic conditions. Accordingly, as-prepared CS@SSC was practically implemented for the removal of pollutants directly from textile effluents. Most importantly, the CS@SSC adsorbent was effectively regenerated and reused with noticeable performance up to ten succesive cycles. The excellent MB removal efficiency together with a simple synthesis procedure, great stability and outstanding regeneration capability make the CS@SSC as a propitious adsorbent for practical application in the field of industrial wastewater treatment.