Desalination and Water Treatment · Published 2026-06-25 · DOI 10.1016/j.dwt.2026.101842
Hala Naseer Abdelkareem, Yasir Talib Hameed, Stella Robert Jameel, Ahmed K. Al-kamal, Mohammed Ali Abdulrehman
The primary objective of this study was to prepare an environmentally friendly and economical adsorbent using untreated cigarette ash entrapped in sodium alginate beads (CA-SAs) for the adsorption of methylene blue (MB). A systematic investigation of the effects of critical operational parameters including pH, temperature, initial dye concentration, adsorbent dosage, and contact time was carried out using the Taguchi L16 experimental design approach. Results indicated that maximum dye removal (97.21%) was observed when pH value, temperature, initial MB concentration, adsorbent dosage, and contact time were set at optimum values, that is, pH= 7, temperature 55°C, 30 mg/L MB concentration, 2.0 g/50 mL adsorbent dosage, and 30 min contact time, respectively. The obtained statistical results indicate that pH is the most significant parameter (47.0%), followed by the initial dye concentration (27.1%) and adsorbent dosage (16.4%). From the equilibrium studies, it can be concluded that dye adsorption onto the prepared adsorbent conforms to the Langmuir isotherm equation with R² = 0.984. However, from kinetic studies, it can be concluded that the process is well represented by the pseudo-second-order kinetic model (R² = 0.995), indicating that the adsorption process follows a chemisorption mechanism. FTIR and SEM characterization studies showed the contribution of O-H, COO⁻, and Si-O-Si functional groups in the adsorption process and pronounced changes in morphology, respectively. It is interesting to note that the entire process is thermodynamically favorable and endothermic.
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Abdelkareem, H., Hameed, Y., Jameel, S., et al. (2026). Sustainable utilization of cigarette ash immobilized in sodium alginate beads for rapid and efficient adsorptive removal of methylene blue from aqueous solutions. Desalination and Water Treatment. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dwt.2026.101842