Silica ash from waste palm fronds used as an eco-friendly, sustainable adsorbent for the Removal of cupper (II)

This study describes the creation of a low-cost silica material using a silicate extract as a precursor. This precursor is made from inexpensive palm frond waste ash through a simple calcination process at 500°C and a green extraction with water. Nitrogen adsorption-desorption, FTIR analyses, and transmission electron microscopy were used to characterize the samples. The surface area of the obtained mesoporous silica ash material was 282 m2/g1, and the pore size was 5.7 nm. For the adsorption of copper ions, an excellent adsorbent was obtained. The maximum copper ion adsorption capacity of this inexpensive silica ash-based adsorbent for removing heavy metal ions Cu(II) from aqueous solutions was 20 mg/g, and the effect of pH, temperature, and time on its adsorption capacity were also investigated. In addition, the adsorption isotherms were fi tted using Langmuir and Freundlich models, and the adsorption kinetics were evaluated using pseudo-fi rst-order and pseudo-secondorder models. The results demonstrated that the synthesized adsorbent could effectively remove heavy metal ions from aqueous solutions at pH levels ranging from 2 to 5. The adsorption isotherms followed the Langmuir model, and the kinetic data fi t the pseudo-second-order mode well. The thermodynamic results Negative values of G° indicate that the adsorption process was spontaneous, and negative values of entropy S° indicate that the state of the adsorbate at the solid/solution interface became less random during the adsorption process. According to the findings, prepared silica from palm waste ash has a high potential for removing heavy contaminating metal ions Cu (II) from aqueous solutions as a low-cost alternative to commercial adsorbents.