ORIGINAL RESEARCH
Investigation of Hydrochar Derived from Male
Oil Palm Flower: Characteristics and Application
for Dye Removal
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1
Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Prince of Songkla University, Songkhla, Thailand
2
Environmental Assessment and Technology for Hazardous Waste Management Research Center,
Faculty of Environmental Management, Prince of Songkla University, Songkhla, Thailand
3
Center of Excellence on Hazardous Substance Management (HSM), Bangkok, Thailand
Submission date: 2018-05-30
Final revision date: 2018-12-03
Acceptance date: 2019-01-24
Online publication date: 2019-08-09
Publication date: 2019-12-09
Pol. J. Environ. Stud. 2020;29(1):807-815
KEYWORDS
TOPICS
ABSTRACT
Male oil palm flower (MOPF) is an abundant and otherwise useless waste from oil palm cultivation.
This work aimed to transform MOPF to hydrochar and use it as an adsorbent for the removal of methylene
blue (MB) dye in water systems, thus dealing with two existing environmental issues simultaneously.
The raw biomass was converted to hydrochar at 180ºC for 8 h in an air atmosphere. Characterization of
the hydrochar using FTIR resulted in a change of functional groups after hydrothermal carbonization
(HTC) as well as after adsorption, which might involve in MB adsorption. The small increase of pores
in hydrochar detected in the BET isotherm analysis might also facilitate MB adsorption. SEM images
confirmed the existence of pores on the hydrochar in comparison with the raw biomass. The equilibrium
MB adsorption followed a pseudo second-order and a Langmuir isotherm model with the maximum
adsorption capacity of 42.92 mg·g-1at 30ºC. These findings suggest that MOPF could be a low-cost valueadded
material and an alternative eco-friendlyhydrochar-based adsorbent for MB removal from aqueous
solution.