Journal of Environmental Chemical Engineering 6 (2018) 970–983

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Journal of Environmental Chemical Engineering

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jece

Adsorption isotherm and kinetic study of gas-solid system of formaldehyde T

on oil palm mesocarp bio-char: Pyrolysis effect
⁎
Nor Rahafza Abdul Manapa, Roslinda Shamsudina, , Mohd Norhafsam Maghporb,
Muhammad Azmi Abdul Hamida, Azman Jalara
a
School of Applied Physics, Faculty of Science and Technology, Universiti Kebangsaan, 43600, Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia
b
National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health, NIOSH, Lot 1, Jalan 15/1, Seksyen 15, 43650, Bandar Baru Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: The kinetic and isotherm studies of gas-solid system were represented by oil palm mesocarp bio-char as ad-
Adsorption sorbent and formaldehyde as adsorbate. Three kinetic model; i.e pseudo-first-order, pseudo-second-order and
Kinetic model Elovich model and three isotherm model; i.e. Langmuir, Freundlich and Temkin isotherm were applied to
Isotherm model evaluate the applicability of the equilibrium experimental data and the pyrolysis effect was studied. As a result,
Indoor air and formaldehyde gas
oil palm fiber carbonized at 500 °C and 700 °C was best presented by the Langmuir isotherm and oil palm
mesocarp carbonized at 600 °C and 800 °C followed Temkin and Freundlich model, respectively. The for-
maldehyde adsorption was found favorable to happen at 25 °C with initial concentration of 0.5 ppm, 0.9 ppm,
0.75 ppm and 2.1 ppm as the Langmuir dimensionless constant, RL gave the value of 0 < RL < 1. Carbonization
temperature of 500 °C, 600 °C, and 700 °C was kinetically presented by pseudo-first-order kinetic equation and
carbonization temperature of 800 °C followed Elovich equation. As a conclusion, the pyrolysis of oil palm me-
socarp does affect the isotherm and kinetic behavior of formaldehyde adsorption on oil palm char.

1. Introduction
Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are hazardous compound re-
cognized as major cause of air pollutants. It can be defined as any or-
ganic compounds commonly exist as aromatic, aldehydes and halo-
carbons with boiling points ranging between 50 °C–260 °C which do not
include pesticides [1]. Benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, xylene and
formaldehyde are examples of volatile organic compounds exist indoor
which are emitted from various sources such as automobile emission
and fuel evaporation [2], new furniture, paints, carpets [3], wood based
panel [4], construction and building materials [5], floor covering and
office equipment [6]. It affects the air quality and human health de-
pending on the amount of volatile organic compounds found in indoor
environment. According to Department of Occupational Safety and
Health, Ministry of Human Resources, Malaysia based on Industry Code
of Practice 2010 [7], the acceptable exposure limits for total VOCs are 3
part per million (ppm), while 0.1 ppm for formaldehyde. Of all VOCs,
formaldehyde is the major indoor VOCs. This organic pollutant is a
well-known carcinogen that causes several health issues such as eyes,
nasal and throat irritations [8]. A recent study found that people spent
88% of their time indoor, 7% in vehicles and only 5% of their time
outdoor [9]. Therefore, it is necessary to find effective and low cost
techniques to reduce and remove VOCs from indoor air. Several tech-
niques have been used to control VOCs. Biofiltration is a microorganism
dependent technique [10], thermal incineration involved very high
temperature (800 °C to 1000 °C) and expensive [11], catalytic oxidation
formed by-product like NOx, ozone and partially fragmented products
like benzaldehyde and ethylbenzene [12] and non-thermal plasma
technology applies high energy electron [13]. Among all techniques,
adsorption is an economical technique, cost effective, easy to operate,
most efficient and flexible technique to remove VOCs [14–17]. The
most important thing is, no toxic by-product is produced during the
purification process [18,19].
Generally, the residual from oil palm tree is one of the agricultural
biomass that has been used as adsorbent together with waste bamboo
pieces [20], peanut shell [21], barley straw [22], date pits [23], pine
cone, soybean cake and rice straw [24]. Biochar is black carbon rich
solid material resulting from pyrolysis of biomass under zero or low
oxygen concentration [25] and low temperature, i.e. below 700 °C
[26,27]. It can improve soil fertility as well as able to reduce green-
house gases by storing atmospheric carbon and carbon dioxide [25] for
a long term in soil to reduce or diminish global warming. Oil palm
mesocarp fiber underwent a thermal decomposition during pyrolysis
and produced three products which are biochar, bio-oil and syngas.

⁎
Corresponding author.
E-mail address: alinda@ukm.edu.my (R. Shamsudin).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jece.2017.12.067
Received 29 August 2017; Received in revised form 14 November 2017; Accepted 27 December 2017
Available online 11 January 2018
2213-3437/ © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
N.R. Abdul Manap et al. Journal of Environmental Chemical Engineering 6 (2018) 970–983

Recently, biochar is used as “adjustment-free” adsorbent for organic Table 1

pollutants removal. This is because there are ample of oxygen/nitrogen Chemical compounds in oil palm mesocarp fiber at different carbonization temperature.
functional groups at the surface of biochar which affect its adsorption
Chemical Raw oil palm mesocarp 500 °C 600 °C 700 °C 800 °C
capacity [28]. The biochar produced from rice husk and corn cob had compounds fiber dried at 110 °C (mass
successfully removed phenol from solution [28]. This adsorption system %)
involves a solid-liquid system. The kinetic and isotherm study of solid-
MgO 0.3 3.61 3.76 3.32 3.55
liquid system has been widely explained by researchers [29–32], while
Al2O3 1.43 10.5 10.7 10.8 10.6
the explanation on the kinetic and isotherm model of gas-solid ad- SiO2 10.77 56.5 54.1 52.3 56.9
sorption system is still scarce. P2O5 0.7 4.89 4.90 5.61 4.79
Kinetic studies and isotherm model is a tool that has been used to SO3 0.87 2.55 2.69 2.80 2.40
simulate and to explain experimental equilibrium data of an adsorption K2O 1.10 4.51 4.93 4.97 4.20
CaO 2.05 5.29 6.20 6.24 5.32
process. It is used to define a reaction rate and mechanism behind an
TiO2 0.17 0.29 0.36 0.34 0.32
adsorption process. Adsorbate uptake rate tells the time required for an Cr2O3 0.10 0.10 0.11 0.12 0.12
adsorption process to reach equilibrium. The adsorption kinetic was Fe2O3 12.66 11.3 10.4 11.6 11.3
influenced by several parameters such as pH, agitation time, initial NiO 0.91 0.09 0.09 0.08 0.1
Others 0.22 0.41 0.53 2.24 0.08
concentration, sorbent dosage and contact time [33–36]. However, in
gas-solid adsorption system does not involved parameters like pH and
agitation time. The concentration of adsorbate is expressed as P/Po; X-MAX 50), while the carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, sulfur and oxygen
ratio of its partial pressure, P, to its saturated vapor pressure, Po, at the components were determined using a CHNS elemental analyzer (LECO-
same temperature. There are several other studies that have studied CHNS 932 Series Model). The functional groups of all samples were
volatile organic compounds adsorption on solid sorbent such as carbon characterized using Fourier Transform Infrared, FTIR (Perkin Elmer
and zeolites [15], multiwall carbon nanotube [16] and activated carbon Spectrum 400 FT-IR/FT-NIR & Spotlight 400 Imaging System).
derived from mango seed shell [37] As there is still insufficient in- Further characterization of oil palm char was done using BET sur-
formation on the kinetic and isotherm studies involving gas-solid ad- face analyzer Micromeritics 3Flex Version 3.01. This equipment oper-
sorption system, this study of the adsorption of formaldehyde gas on ated at liquid nitrogen temperature, −195.8 °C (77.4 K). The outgassed
“adjustment free” oil palm mesocarp biochar provides a kinetic and conditions were 20 μm vacuum at 120 °C. The information of specific
isotherm analysis, which can contribute to comprehensive knowledge surface area, total pore volume and pore size distribution was obtained
of both analyses. The effects of pyrolysis temperature on kinetic and from adsorption-desorption isotherm using the Brunauer-Emmett-Teller
isotherm model had also been discussed. and BJH method.

2. Materials and methods

2.1. Oil palm chars preparation
Oil palm mesocarp biochar was prepared using oil palm fiber ob-
tained from Southern Acids Sdn Bhd Golconda Estate in Kapar, Klang,
Malaysia. The oil palm mesocarp fiber was washed thoroughly with
deionized water to remove dirt and contaminants. Then, it was dried in
an oven at 110 °C for 24 h until constant weight was obtained. The dried
oil palm mesocarp fiber underwent a series of grinding processes to
produce oil palm mesocarp fiber powder. The pyrolysis of oil palm
mesocarp fiber powder occurred at 500 °C, 600 °C, 700 °C and 800 °C for
1 h with a gradient of 10 °C/min under no air condition. All the samples
were labeled as POFN500, POFN600, POFN700 and POFN800, re-
spectively. These labels were used throughout this research paper. The
resulted biochar produced from oil palm mesocarp fiber was used as
adsorbent to adsorb organic pollutant in indoor air.
2.2. Oil palm char properties
The activation burn-off or mass loss due to activation was calculated
for POFN500, POFN600, POFN700 and POFN800 using (Eq. (1))
[38–40]. The calculation of activation burn-off percentage was derived
based on the following relationship:
Wi − Wt
Activation burn-off% = 100 - [θ], where, θ(wt.%)= × 100
Wi (1)
Where θ, is the difference between initial mass of oil palm fiber and
final mass of oil palm fiber after pyrolysis divided by initial mass of oil
palm fiber (all in dry basis), Wi is the initial mass of the oil palm fiber
and Wt is the mass of the oil palm fiber at the end of carbonization
temperature of 500 °C, 600 °C, 700 °C and 800 °C, respectively.
The chemical composition of oil palm fiber carbonized at different
temperatures was determined using X-ray fluorescence (XRF Model
Bruker S8 Tiger). The microstructure of each sample was determined
using Field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM-EDX Model
2.3. Formaldehyde
The adsorbate for this study is paraformaldehyde certified 1 g;
brand Dr Ehrenstofer with 99.0% purity. The stock and standard solu-
tion was prepared prior further use. A concentration of 10 mg/L was
used as formaldehyde source in 280 × 320 × 480 mm test chamber.
The formaldehyde standard solution was heated at 60° C before being
placed inside the test chamber.
2.4. Batch equilibrium and isotherm studies
The adsorption of formaldehyde on POFN500, POFN600, POFN700
and POFN800 was evaluated in batch equilibrium tests. Two factors
affecting the adsorption capacity were studied; first, the effect of for-
maldehyde initial concentration. Second, the effect of contact time
between adsorbent and the adsorbate and how it affects the equilibrium
of the system. The test was carried out in a 280 × 320 × 480 mm test
chamber. The readings were recorded using MultiLite Rae
Formaldehyde Meter.
2.4.1. Effect of formaldehyde initial concentration
The effect of formaldehyde initial concentration on formaldehyde
removal percentage was carried out by preparing the test chamber with
different initial concentration, ranging between 0.5 ppm to 2.1 ppm.
Heated formaldehyde with a volume of 10 mL was placed inside the
chamber through a small opening of the chamber. Then the small
opening was closed and the heated formaldehyde was allowed to va-
porize until the formaldehyde meter gave the reading of 0.5 ppm.
POFN500 (0.2 g) was placed inside the test chamber through a small
opening and the data was recorded at 10 min interval form 180 min
using formaldehyde meter. This procedure was repeated for
Ci = 0.75 ppm, Ci = 0.9 ppm, Ci = 2.1 ppm, using POFN600, POFN700,
and POFN800 as adsorbent. The value of formaldehyde uptake at
equilibrium is determined using Eq. (2).

971
N.R. Abdul Manap et al. Journal of Environmental Chemical Engineering 6 (2018) 970–983

Table 2
The physiochemical characteristics of oil palm mesocarp fiber at different carbonization temperature.

Carbonization Temperature (°C) 110 (Raw) 500 600 700 800

Oven dried
O 20.4 29.5 43.4 37.7 40.5
C 72.3 8.4 21.1 18.2 11.7
H 5.1 0.083 0.048 0.042 0.028
N 2.0 0.33 0.43 0.3 0.53
O/C ratio – 3.51 2.05 2.07 3.46
Polarity indices – 3.55 2.07 2.09 3.50
Burn off percentage (%) 0.28 80 86 86 85
BET surface area (m2/g) 0.31 19.8 8.59 6.89 5.48
Pore volume (cm3/g) NA 0.032 0.013 0.013 0.01
Pore diameter (nm) 0.786 6.5 5.9 7.1 7.1
Total area in pores (m2/g) 1.1 × 10−4 3.048 0.178 3.809 0.079
Micropores volume (cm3/g) 7.8 3.9 × 10−3 5.0 × 10−4 2.0 × 10−4 1.0 × 10−4

determined using the same procedure of determining the effect of

contact time in Section 2.4.2 and was calculated using Eq. (3).
Ci − Ct
Removal efficiency(%) = × 100%
Ci (3)

Where Ci is the initial concentration of formaldehyde in the test

chamber (ppm) at time = 0, while Ct is the concentration of for-
maldehyde at time = t (10, 20, 30 until 180 min).

2.5. Batch kinetic studies

The batch kinetic studies were conducted on, POFN500, POFN600,

Fig. 1. N2 adsorption isotherm of oil palm mesocarp fiber bio-char produced from dif-
ferent carbonization temperature 500 °C (POFN500), 600 °C (POFN600), 700 °C
(POFN700) and 800 °C (POFN800).
(C − Ce ) V
q e= o
W (2)
Where Co (ppm) is the gas phase concentration of formaldehyde at in-
itial and Ce (ppm) is the gas phase concentration of formaldehyde at
equilibrium. V is the interior volume of the test chamber in liter (L), and
W is the mass of POFN500, POFN600, POFN700 and POFN800 in gram
(0.2 g).
The isotherm study was done using this results and was evaluated
using 3 isotherm models; Langmuir isotherm, Freundlich isotherm and
Temkin isotherm model. From these models, one can determine the
mechanism involved in this solid-gas system of formaldehyde on oil
palm mesocarp bio-char adsorbent. The parameters such as tempera-
ture (25 °C), relative humidity (50%), adsorbent dosage (0.2 g) and
chamber volume (43 L) were kept constant.
2.4.2. Effect of contact time
Two sets of experiment were carried out with two different contact
times; 3 h and 5 h. Fixed amount of adsorbent (0.2 g) and initial con-
centration (2.1 ppm) was used. The procedure of preparing the test
chamber with 2.1 ppm of formaldehyde was done using the same
technique used in Section 2.4.1. 0.2 g of POFN500 was exposed to
2.1 ppm formaldehyde in the test chamber for 3 and 5 h. The data was
taken at 10 min interval for 180 and 300 min. The procedure was re-
peated for POFN600, POFN700 and POFN800.
2.4.3. Formaldehyde removal efficiency
The percentage of removal efficiency of formaldehyde was
POFN700 and POFN800 samples. The kinetic studies were done by
preparing the test chamber with different initial concentration of for-
maldehyde in the range between 0.5 ppm to 2.1 ppm (same as Section
2.4.1). The readings were taken at preselected time (10 min interval for
a total of 210 min) for formaldehyde analysis using MultiLite Rae For-
maldehyde Meter. All recorded data was evaluated using three kinetic
models; pseudo-first-order, pseudo-second-order and Elovich model.
3. Results and discussion
3.1. Oil palm char properties
Raw oil palm mesocarp fiber dried at 110 °C was used as standard
reference to study the effect of carbonization on carbon content, surface
properties and surface functional group. The chemical compounds of oil
palm mesocarp fiber carbonized at different temperature (500 °C,
600 °C, 700 °C and 800 °C) was analyzed using X-ray fluorescence
(XRF). The results for the chemical analysis are presented in Table 1.
SiO2 contributes about 52.3% to 56.9% from the total amount, followed
by other compounds such as Al2O3, Fe2O3, P2O5, CaO, K2O, MgO, SO3,
TiO2, and NiO. The existence of high amount of silica can also been seen
in Fig. 3, where SiO2 particles were randomly distributed on the oil
palm mesocarp fiber. Portela et al. (2017) found that, the silicate ar-
rangement in the sample, contributed to the physical and chemical
properties of the final material [41].
Table 2 shows the physicochemical characteristics of oil palm fiber
treated at different carbonization temperature. Oil palm mesocarp fiber
possessed high carbon content naturally as the oil palm fiber is one of
the carbonaceous biomass. The carbonization temperature is the im-
portant factor that affects the structure of the produced adsorbent. As
the carbonization temperature increases from 500 °C to 800 °C, the
burn-off percentage increases from 80% to 86%. Rapid development of
macropores occurred as the burn-off increased [39]. During this pro-
cess, all non-carbon species had been eliminated through thermal de-
composition [42]. Pore diameter of oil palm mesocarp bio-char also
increased with increasing degree of carbon burn-off. This is due to large
numbers of volatiles had been released at higher carbonization

972
N.R. Abdul Manap et al.
temperature. This finding is supported by Figs. 1, 2 and 4. According to
Daud et al. (2000), different quality of adsorbent can be produced using
a wide range of carbonization temperature depending on the starting
raw material, e.g.; adsorbent from prune and peach stone produced at
high temperature had higher micropore volume compared to adsorbent
from polyvinyldene that also had higher micropore volume produced at
lower temperature [39].
Fig. 1 shows nitrogen adsorption isotherm of oil palm mesocarp
fiber bio-char produced at different carbonization temperature (500 °C,
600 °C, 700 °C and 800 °C). Generally, the plot position of each sample
gives a general idea about their surface area. The highest plot position
973
Journal of Environmental Chemical Engineering 6 (2018) 970–983
Fig. 2. N2 adsorption-desorption isotherm of oil
palm mesocarp bio-char produced from different
carbonization temperature (a) 500 °C (POFN500), (b)
600 °C (POFN600), (c) 700 °C (POFN700) and (d)
800 °C (POFN800).
Fig. 3. FESEM micrograph of oil palm mesocarp
fiber bio-char at different carbonization temperature;
(a) POFN500, (b) POFN600, (c) POFN700 and (d)
POFN800.
represents sample with the highest surface area and the lowest plot
owns by the sample with the lowest surface area. As shown in Fig. 1,
POFN500 possessed the highest surface area of 19.8 m2/g followed by
POFN600, POFN 700 and POFN800 with 8.59 m2/g, 6.89 m2/g and
5.48 m2/g, respectively. The opening of inaccessible pores, the creation
of new pores and pore widening effect contributes to a higher surface
area. Meanwhile, the shrinkage of carbonized char contributes to the
decreasing pattern of the surface area at higher carbonization tem-
perature (Table 2). This decreasing pattern was due to the re-arrange-
ment of the carbon atoms, which occurred during carbonization pro-
cess. It was also experienced by other researcher [43]. The signature
N.R. Abdul Manap et al.
Fig. 4. Pore size distribution of (a) POFN500, (b) POFN600, (c) POFN700 and (d)
POFN800.
Fig. 5. The IR spectra of oil palm mesocarp fiber treated at different temperatures
(110 °C–800 °C).
shape of the adsorption isotherm (Fig. 1) is a representative of 6 type
isotherm. As can be seen from Fig. 1, all of the samples exhibit Type III
isotherm. The Type III isotherms are given by macroporous or non-
porous solid which related to weak interaction between adsorbent and
adsorbate [44,45]. In a comprehensive study of macroporous solid, Sing
(1982) found that the isotherm rises promptly near relative pressure, P/
Po = 1.0 in the existence of macropores and may display a typical
vertical rise if the macropores are very large. Furthermore, isotherm
maintained almost flat over a range of relative pressure, P/Po nearing a
value of 1.0 if the solid contains no macropores [46]. The formation of
monolayer is indistinguishable since the shape of Type III isotherm is
outcurve to the P/Po axis over its entire range.
The effect of carbonization temperature on pore properties can be
analyzed further using the adsorption-desorption isotherm versus re-
lative pressure, P/Po plot as shown in Fig. 2. The assessment of pore
structure was done by investigating the shape of hysteresis loop. All
samples exhibit Type H3 loops with low pressure hysteresis which re-
lated to micropores containing materials [45] and observed with the
aggregation of relatively coherent particles. The high adsorption values
occurred at high relative pressure; nearly 1.0. The narrow shape of
hysteresis loop suggesting that there is no change in shape or size of the
pore. This result is supported by FESEM micrograph which can be seen
in Fig. 3. Clearly, the relatively coherent particles are assembled to-
gether contributing to non-uniform pores suggesting weak interaction
between adsorbent-adsorbate. These characteristics are important to
determine their ability to reduce the concentration of formaldehyde in
indoor air. Fig. 4 shows pores size distribution for POFN500, POFN600,
974
Journal of Environmental Chemical Engineering 6 (2018) 970–983
POFN700 and POFN800. It can be seen POFN500 Exhibit 2 distinctive
peaks which indicate the presence of 2 pore fractions. First, it was
mainly distributed between 19 nm to 40 nm with the peak value at
39 nm and secondly, the distribution between 40 nm to 65 nm with the
peak value at 50 nm. POFN600, POFN700 and POFN800 Exhibit 3
distinctive peaks with the peak value at 39, 59, 90 nm for POFN600; 39,
60, 80 nm for POFN700; and 40, 60 and 90 nm for POFN800. The wide
pore size distribution possessed by all samples confirmed the existence
of both macropores and micropores [47].
Fig. 5 shows the IR spectra of oil palm mesocarp fiber treated at
different temperatures. The relative intensity of the spectra was re-
presented by absorbance versus wavenumber plot. The fingerprint re-
gion for lignin appeared in 1700–1000 cm−1 region, e.g.; C]O at
1740 cm−1, C]C at 1510 cm−1 and below 1460 cm−1 [48] for oil palm
mesocarp fiber dried at 110 °C. These sharp and discrete bands dis-
appeared when the carbonization temperature reaches 500 °C. Broad
eOH stretching vibration peak of hydroxyl group and exist in dried
sample slowly disappeared as the temperature increased to 800 °C.
[49]. This peak is attributed to organic acids which produced from the
degradation of the hemicellulose and cellulose at temperature of
200–360 °C [50]. OeH association and OeH bending gave a sharp with
high intensity peak at 1100 cm−1. Sharp medium peak in the
700–900 cm−1 region was attributed to CeH aromatic hydrogen.
Meanwhile, the an unclear low intensity peak at 650 cm−1 became
clearer and sharpens and had same intensity in all samples as the car-
bonization temperature increased. This peak exists from ortho aromatic
substitution in CeH bend region. The aromatic hydrogen and OeH
association peak arise from hemicellulose which was found high in the
mesocarp fiber material [51]. The weak C]C stretching band at
∼1600 cm−1 shifted to 1400 cm−1 with a decrease in intensity.
3.2. Adsorption of formaldehyde on oil palm char
Fig. 2 shows the percentage of formaldehyde removal from oil palm
fiber treated at 4 different carbonization temperatures; i.e 500 °C,
600 °C, 700 °C and 800 °C to produce oil palm char samples. The sample
carbonized at 500 °C (POFN500) gave the highest percentage of for-
maldehyde removal, followed by sample carbonized at 700 °C, 800 °C
and 600 °C (POFN700, POFN800 and POFN600). The highest percen-
tage of formaldehyde removal was contributed by the largest surface
area observed in POFN500, as compared to the other samples. This is
where the characteristics of oil palm fiber and surface properties plays
important role to the results obtained [52]. Although POFN600 pos-
sessed the second highest amount of surface area, it can be seen that
POFN600 was the least performing. This is because; POFN600 had the
lowest value of O/C ratio and polar indices. This is in agreement with
similar finding reported by Samsuri et al. (2014) where the adsorption
capacity for metal by rice husk (SBET = 25.11 m2/g) is much lower than
empty fruit bunch (1.890 m2/g) suggesting that the surface area was
less important than O/C ratio and polar indices [53]. All of the phy-
siochemical characteristics of the oil palm mesocarp fiber at different
carbonization temperature are presented in Table 2. Oil palm mesocarp
fiber carbonized at 500 °C also possessed the highest number of pore
volumes, e.g.; 0.032 cm3/g, compared to 0.013 cm3/g, 0.013 cm3/g and
0.010 cm3/g for oil palm mesocarp fiber carbonized at 600 °C, 700 °C
and 800 °C, respectively. The enhancement of mass transfer of ad-
sorbate into the adsorbent used was related to the amount of pore vo-
lume found in adsorbent [54]. This statement can be simplified as, large
mass transfer will contribute to high adsorption capacity, and hence
more formaldehyde molecules can be removed from indoor air.
The effect of initial concentration on formaldehyde removal was
done by using different concentration of formaldehyde ranging from
0.5 ppm to 2.1 ppm for POFN500 and POFN700 with the same amount
of adsorbent (0.2 g) within 180 min of experiment. Fig. 6 shows the
percentage of formaldehyde removal for oil palm mesocarp fiber sam-
ples POFN500 and POFN700 using various initial formaldehyde
N.R. Abdul Manap et al.
concentrations. These 2 samples represent the sample with the highest
and the lowest carbon burn-off percentage (refer Table 2); i.e. POFN700
with 86 wt% carbon burn-off and POFN500 with 80 wt% carbon burn
off. All the samples show the same increasing trend of formaldehyde
removal percentage over time. As the contact time increased from 0 to
180 min, the percentage of formaldehyde removal increased from 0%
up to 98% depending on the initial formaldehyde concentrations used.
At 0.5 ppm Fig. 6(a), 96% of formaldehyde was adsorbed by POFN500
and 98% of formaldehyde was adsorbed by POFN700. The highest
percentage of formaldehyde removal by POFN500 and POFN700 is due
to low amount of formaldehyde molecules available in the test chamber
is being adsorbed by the same amount of oil palm char. At 0.75 ppm
Fig. 6(b), 96% of formaldehyde was adsorbed by POFN500 and 89.3%
of formaldehyde was adsorbed by POFN700. As the initial concentra-
tion of formaldehyde increased, the amount of formaldehyde adsorbed
by POFN500 and POFN700 decreased to 93.3% and 82.2% for 0.9 ppm
Fig. 6(c), and 80.9% and 74.3% for 2.1 ppm Fig. 6(d). When the con-
centration of formaldehyde increased, the amount of vacant sites for the
adsorption process to happen is decreased over time. The available sites
for formaldehyde adsorption reached zero when the percentage of
formaldehyde removal approached 80.9% and 74.3% for POFN500 and
POFN700, respectively. This phenomenon also occurred in for-
maldehyde adsorbent made from functionalized meso-silica material
[55], where the test was carried out in a test chamber and result
showed the functionalized meso-silica reduced formaldehyde con-
centration to non-zero concentration level which is about 80% reduc-
tion. Carter et al. (2011) found that the attraction of formaldehyde on
activated carbon fiber cloth and granular activated carbon was very
dependent on formaldehyde concentration [56]. Table 3 presents the
overall comparison of adsorbent produced from different biomass. The
oil palm mesocarp fiber carbonized at different temperature shows the
ability to reduce formaldehyde better than other adsorbent produced
from other biomass. Oil palm mesocarp fiber char used in this study
reduced 74.3% to 96% of formaldehyde compared to adsorbent made
from red marine macro alga (35% reduction for untreated adsorbent
975
Journal of Environmental Chemical Engineering 6 (2018) 970–983
Fig. 6. The percentage of formaldehyde removal for
POFN500 and POFN700 using various initial for-
maldehyde concentration; (a) 0.5 ppm, (b) 0.75 ppm,
(c) 0.9 ppm and (d) 2.1 ppm.
and 70% reduction for treated adsorbent) [57]. Furthermore, this study
is carried out using an appropriate range of formaldehyde concentra-
tion found in indoor air. Several other researchers did the research on
formaldehyde in indoor air but using a very high range of formaldehyde
concentration; Li Jing et al., 2008 (20.5 ppm), Ellison et al., 2011
(32.5 ppm) and Wara et al., 2017 (100 ppm to 1000 ppm) [20,56,58].
The present study was designed to determine the effect of carbo-
nization temperature to surface characteristics of oil palm mesocarp
fiber. As a result of carbonization process, POFN500 sample possessed
the largest surface area which contributed to the highest formaldehyde
adsorption capacity as compared to POFN700 (refer Table 2 and Fig. 6).
It is now possible to state that, the adsorption ability and adsorption
capacity are dependent on carbon burn-off percentage and surface
properties i.e surface area, pore volume, pore diameter, and initial
concentration of formaldehyde. Lowest carbon burn-off and higher in-
itial concentration will contribute to a higher adsorption capacity
(Fig. 7).
3.3. Factors affecting adsorption capacity and equilibrium time
The initial concentration affects the adsorption capacity and equi-
librium time of an adsorption system. Fig. 8 shows a plot of adsorption
capacity of different initial concentration versus time for POFN700. The
adsorption capacity can also be referred as formaldehyde uptake in-
creased as the initial concentration of formaldehyde increased. As
shown in Fig. 8(a), at initial concentration of 0.5 ppm, the adsorption
capacity of formaldehyde is 105 mg/g. When the initial concentration
increased to 0.75 ppm and 0.9 ppm (as shown in Fig. 8(b) and (c)), the
adsorption capacity increased to 145 mg/g and 155 mg/g respectively.
At the highest initial concentration, 2.1 ppm, the adsorption capacity of
formaldehyde increased to 410 mg/g. The increasing amount of ad-
sorption capacity is caused by the ratio of number of formaldehyde
molecules to the vacant adsorption sites of oil palm char. Other re-
searchers also stated that the concentration of adsorbate (in this study is
concentration of formaldehyde) affects the amount of adsorption
 N.R. Abdul Manap et al.

Table 3
The overall comparison of adsorbent produced from different biomass.

Author Biomass Formaldehyde concentration Instrument/Method Findings Comments

Rengga et al. Bamboo waste 100 ppm–1000 ppm GC-FID Activated carbon from bamboo waste attached with silver Formaldehyde range used in the study is too high to be
(2017) nano particle showed complete breakthrough at flow rate considered as indoor air pollutants/not a representative
350 L/min at initial concentration, Ci = 300 ppm of formaldehyde in indoor air
Lee et al. (2016) Pyropia tenera chars/red marine 1 ppm (readings were taken at Formaldehyde analyzer Formaldehyde concentration reduced to 0.65 ppm for Formaldehyde range used is a representative of
macro alga 0, 10, 40, 80 min) (4000 Series) untreated chars and 0.5 ppm, 0.4 ppm, 0.3 ppm for formaldehyde in indoor air.
surface treated chars
Surface area (1071–1286 m2/g) Untreated chars only reduced 35% of formaldehyde
concentration.
Treated chars only can reduce formaldehyde up to 70%.
Li Jing et al. Activated carbon derived from 20.5 ppm (at different relative Packed bed apparatus Organosilane compounds modified the surface of original The formaldehyde used in the study is too high to
(2008) coconut shell, treated with humidity percentage) activated carbon, enhanced the interaction between represent the real indoor air situation, the surface of
organosilane solution formaldehyde and the surface, and improved activated carbon had been modified using organosilane
breakthrough time. compounds

976
Surface area (895.58 m2/g)
Carter et al. Activated carbon from 0–32.5 ppm Combined gas generation Formaldehyde adsorption capacity was most strongly Formaldehyde concentration range is too high to
(2011) bituminous coal, activated carbon system and gravimetric related to the density of basic surface functional groups represent the real indoor situation.
fiber cloth woven from rayon balance
The activated carbon undergone further treatment to
reduce formaldehyde concentration
Nor Rahafza et al Oil palm mesocarp fiber 0.5 ppm–2.1 ppm Formaldehyde meter Oil palm mesocarp fiber treated at different carbonization The formaldehyde concentration represents
(this study) MultiRAE Lite V1.14 temperature, e.g 500 °C, 600 °C, 700 °C and 800 °C formaldehyde in indoor air.
without any further or chemical treatment.
Able to reduce formaldehyde concentration up until 98% No further chemical treatment involved.
as the contact time increased.
Surface area (5.48–19.8 m2/g) Formaldehyde concentration reduction percentage,
98% compared to 35% for untreated red marine macro
alga and 70% reduction for treated red marine macro
alga char.
Low surface area with higher reduction of
formaldehyde (adsorption also can occur based on O/C
ratio and polar indices value)
Journal of Environmental Chemical Engineering 6 (2018) 970–983
N.R. Abdul Manap et al.
Fig. 7. Formaldehyde removal for POFN500, POFN600, POFN700 and POFN800 samples
over time using 2.1 ppm as initial concentration.
capacity [59–61]. The amount of adsorption capacity keeps increasing
as the concentration of formaldehyde increases until it reaches constant
amount. The constant amount of formaldehyde uptake occurred when
the system reaches equilibrium, and the time needed to achieve this
state is known as equilibrium time.
The equilibrium time was affected by contact time [62–64], which
can be defined as the time of oil palm mesocarp fiber char being ex-
posed to formaldehyde. Fig. 9 shows the effect of contact time on
equilibrium time using a constant initial concentration of 2.1 ppm for
POFN500, POFN600, POFN700 and POFN800. Fig. 9(a) shows all the
samples have not reach equilibrium after being exposed for 180 min. By
prolonging the contact time to 300 min, all the samples successfully
reached the equilibrium. Longer time is needed to ensure all the
977
Journal of Environmental Chemical Engineering 6 (2018) 970–983
formaldehyde molecules are completely adsorbed on the exterior sur-
face of oil palm char and then adsorbed to the interior surface when the
exterior surface of oil palm char is full [65]. The equilibrium time of
formaldehyde adsorption was also affected by initial concentration. The
effect of initial concentration on equilibrium can easily be seen through
the area under peak of the plot (refer Fig. 8(a)–(d)). The area under
peak is getting bigger as the initial concentration of formaldehyde is
higher. Thus, the bigger the area under peak, the longer time is taken by
the system to reach equilibrium. Formaldehyde with initial concentra-
tion of 2.1 ppm, took 360 min to achieve equilibrium time compared to
120, 100 and 90 min for Ci = 0.9 ppm, Ci = 0.75 ppm and
Ci = 0.5 ppm, respectively. However, the experiment was carried out
for 480 min to ensure full equilibrium system is achieved. Higher initial
formaldehyde concentration contributes to large amount of for-
maldehyde molecules present in the same volume of chambers. This
caused the system to take longer time to achieve equilibrium. According
to Le Chatelier’s principle, any changes in concentration will cause the
system to counteract the changes in order to remain in equilibrium state
[66]. When the concentration increased, the rate of reaction also in-
creased, thus, longer time is needed to adjust and to remain in the
equilibrium state. The adsorption of malachite green on oil palm trunk
fiber [67], copper on magnetic polymer adsorbent [68], acid dye on
activated palm ash [69], and anionic dyes on barley straw [31] showed
the same observation, e.g; higher initial concentration needs longer
time to achieve equilibrium. The slow phase and rapid phase that are
shown in Fig. 8(a)–(d) will be discussed in Section 3.5 as it involves the
kinetic part of the formaldehyde adsorption.
3.4. Adsorption isotherms
The adsorption isotherm study was done to find the most suitable
correlation for an equilibrium curve of the formaldehyde adsorption
system. There were three adsorption isotherm models used in this
study, e.g.; Langmuir, Freundlich and Temkin. Generally, the Langmuir
Fig. 8. The effect of different initial formaldehyde
concentration, (a) 0.5 ppm, (b) 0.75 ppm, (c)
0.9 ppm and (d) 2.1 ppm; on equilibrium time for
POFN700. The formaldehyde uptake occurred in two
phases; (1) Rapid phase and (2) Slow phase.
N.R. Abdul Manap et al.
isotherm model demonstrate monolayer adsorption coverage on a
homogenous surface with limited number of identical site without any
interaction between adsorbed molecules [70–72]. Meanwhile Freun-
dlich isotherm deals with reversible adsorption on a heterogeneous
surface and it is not restricted to the formation of the monolayer
[69,70]. The applicability of these models was compared in terms of
correlation coefficients value, R2 [64,73] possessed by each sample.
Table 4 shows important parameters calculated from all the models.
From the results obtained, formaldehyde adsorption data for POFN500
and POFN800 fitted well with Langmuir isotherm model with the
highest of R2 value; i.e POFN 500, R2 = 0.968; POFN800, R2 = 0.9967
suggesting the adsorption of formaldehyde onto POFN500 and
POFN800 was mainly controlled by the Langmuir surface adsorption
mechanism. Thus, it can be assumed that a monolayer adsorption of
formaldehyde occurred on oil palm mesocarp fiber surface that con-
tained a limited number of adsorption sites and no further adsorption
takes place once the active site are covered with formaldehyde mole-
cules. The parameter RL is a dimensionless constant which represents
the important characteristics of Langmuir isotherm [74]. It explained
whether the adsorption of formaldehyde on oil palm mesocarp fiber
char was unfavorable (RL > 1), linear (RL = 1), favorable for POFN500
(RL = 0.99) and POFN800 (RL = 0.79–0.94) (0 < RL < 1) or irrever-
sible (RL = 0) at set of experimental conditions.
Formaldehyde adsorption data for POFN600 and POFN700 followed
Freundlich isotherm model with the highest of R2 value; i.e. POFN600,
R2 = 0.9745; POF700, R2 = 0.8799. From the Freundlich linear plot,
the value of Freundlich constant, KF indicates the adsorption capacity
and 1/n indicates the adsorption intensity. The n value of POFN600 and
POFN700 is 3.72 and 5.41 respectively. The value of n > 1 represents
a favorable physical adsorption condition [75,76].
The adsorption of various concentration of formaldehyde on all oil
palm mesocarp fiber char (POFN500, POFN600, POFN700 and
POFN800) were favorable to happen at the stated condition, i.e; 0.2 g
samples, Ci = 0.9 ppm, 0.75 ppm and 0.5 ppm, at 25 °C as all RL value
shown as 0 < RL < 1 and n > 1.
978
Journal of Environmental Chemical Engineering 6 (2018) 970–983
Fig. 9. Effect of contact time (a) 180 min (b) 300 min
on equilibrium time using constant initial con-
centration, Ci = 2.1 ppm for oil palm fiber carbo-
nized at 500 °C (POFN500), 600 °C (POFN600),
700 °C (POFN700) and 800 °C (POFN800) over time.
3.5. Adsorption kinetic studies
The kinetics of formaldehyde adsorption explains the rate of for-
maldehyde uptake on oil palm char. The rate of formaldehyde uptake
on oil palm char controlled the equilibrium time. This was shown by
Fig. 8(a)–(d) in Section 3.3 where the formaldehyde uptake occurred in
two phases. First, rapid phase and second, slow phase. Almost all for-
maldehyde uptakes occurred at rapid phase, while the remaining for-
maldehyde uptake occurred in slow phase before the system reached
equilibrium. Rapid phase represents the beginning of the adsorption
process, and large numbers of adsorption sites were available to allo-
cate formaldehyde molecules. As the time increased, the available va-
cant sites became less. Consequently, it contributed to the existence of
slow phase as shown in Fig. 8. The formation of monolayer of for-
maldehyde at the exterior surface became saturated as the amount of
formaldehyde molecules was higher than the available sites. This pro-
cess was schematically exhibited in Fig. 10. The saturation of for-
maldehyde forced the system to prevent the changes in order to remain
in equilibrium state which also contributed to a slow phase. This ob-
servation follows the Le Chatelier’s principle which had been explained
in Section 3.3. The reaction rate is commonly expressed as rate law
using power law, as shown in Eq. (4).
d [C ]
Rate =- = k [C ]n
dt (4)
Where k is the rate constant, C is formaldehyde concentration and n is
the order of the reaction. Three kinetics models were applied to simu-
late the formaldehyde adsorption kinetics namely pseudo-first-order,
pseudo-second-order, Elovich model and intraparticle diffusion model.
These kinetic models were recognized as useful tools to determine the
mechanism of adsorption process [77].
Fig. 11 shows a pseudo-first-order plot of time versus log (qe − qt).
This plot was obtained from calculation of raw data that consists of
qt(mg/g) which represents the amount of formaldehyde uptake at time
interval t, while qe (mg/g) represents adsorption capacity and the
amount of formaldehyde uptake at equilibrium. The calculation was
originated from the differential equation of pseudo-first-order equation
N.R. Abdul Manap et al. Journal of Environmental Chemical Engineering 6 (2018) 970–983

Table 4
Langmuir, Freundlich and Temkin isotherm constant and separation factor, RL for ad-
sorption of formaldehyde on oil palm mesocarp fiber treated at different carbonization
temperature.

Carbonization Temperature (°C) Isotherm model Parameters

500 Langmuir Qm = 0.0022 mg g−1

kL = 0.0005
RL = 0.99
R2 = 0.968
Freundlich KF = 2.71
n = 5.59
R2 = 0.9267
Temkin bT = 89.64
kT = 433.2
R2 = 0.815
600 Langmuir Qm = 0.554 mg g−1
kL = 0.48
RL = 0.42–0.49
R2 = 0.8826
Freundlich KF = 2.51 Fig. 11. Pseudo-first-order of POFN500, POFN600, POFN700 and POFN800 using
n = 3.72 2.1 ppm as initial formaldehyde concentration, 0.2 g sample at 25 °C.
R2 = 0.9745
Temkin bT = 49.45
kT = 211.7 Table 5
R2 = 0.8966 Parameters of kinetic models for the adsorption of formaldehyde on palm oil mesocarp
700 Langmuir Qm = 29.45 mg g−1 fiber treated at different carbonization temperature, initial concentration = 2.1 ppm and
kL = 38.32 0.2 g sample at 25 °C.
RL = 0.01–0.05
R2 = 0.7512 Kinetic models and Carbonization temperature (°C)
Freundlich KF = 2.72 parameters
n = 5.41 500 600 700 800
R2 = 0.8799
Temkin bT = 96.52 Pseudo-first order 2.60 2.62 2.60 2.65
kT = 453.65 qe (mg g−1) 6.2 × 10−3 4.2 × 10−3 5.5 × 10−3 5.3 × 10−3
R2 = 0.7699 k1 (min−1) 0.9933 0.9767 0.9924 0.8969
800 Langmuir Qm = 0.986 mg g−1 R2
kL = 0.12 Pseudo-second order 0.10 0.25 0.13 0.16
RL = 0.79–0.94 qe (mg g−1) 2.3 × 10−3 2.0 × 10−3 2.3 × 10−3 2.2 × 10−3
R2 = 0.9967 k2 (g mg−1 min-1) 0.9425 0.6885 0.9246 0.8629
Freundlich KF = 2.41 R2
n = 5.58 Intraparticle diffusion 26.35 25.39 25.27 25.54
R2 = 0.877 kid 10.86 40.15 10.06 15.95
Temkin bT = 46.85 Ci 0.9862 0.9704 0.9902 0.7808
kT = 222.5 R2
R2 = 0.7758 Elovich model 118.44 32.67 89.53 62.29
α(mg g−1 min-1) 0.008 0.031 0.011 0.016
Note: The values in Italic represent the highest regression correlation coefficients, R2. It β (g mg−1) 0.8437 0.8067 0.8709 0.9916
also represents the chosen isotherm model for oil palm mesocarp fiber treated at different R2
carbonization temperature.
Note: The values in Italics represent the highest regression correlations coefficients, R2. It
as shown in Eq. (5) [69]. also represents the chosen kinetics model for each heat treated oil palm mesocarp fiber.

dqt line, Eq. (5) was integrated with the setting limit of t = 0 to t and qt = 0
= k1 (qe − qt ) to qt. The Eq. (5) becomes a linear equation as shown in Eq. (6).
dt (5)
k1
where k1 is the rate constant of pseudo-first-order and qe is amount of log(qe − qt ) = log qe − t
2.303 (6)
formaldehyde uptake contributed by monolayer coverage which is also
known as adsorption capacity at equilibrium. In order to get the straight where qe and qt (mg/g) represent the amount of formaldehyde adsorbed

Fig. 10. Schematic diagram of formaldehyde adsorption process on oil palm fiber as adsorbent.

979
N.R. Abdul Manap et al.
Fig. 12. Pseudo-second-order of POFN500, POFN600, POFN700 and POFN800 using
2.1 ppm as initial formaldehyde concentration, 0.2 g sample at 25 °C.
Fig. 13. Elovich model of POFN500, POFN600, POFN700 and POFN800 using 2.1 ppm as
initial formaldehyde concentration, 0.2 g sample at 25 °C.
Fig. 14. Intraparticle model of POFN500, POFN600, POFN700 and POFN800 using
2.1 ppm as initial formaldehyde concentration, 0.2 g sample at 25 °C.
at equilibrium and at any time t and k1 is the rate constant of for-
maldehyde uptake (min−1). The rate constant of formaldehyde uptake,
k1 can be obtained from the slope value of pseudo-first-order linear plot
[78]. The details value of rate constant, k1, the correlation coefficients,
R2 and the predicted qe are shown in Table 5.
980
Journal of Environmental Chemical Engineering 6 (2018) 970–983
Fig. 12 shows pseudo-second-order plot of time versus t/qt. Similar
to pseudo-first-order, this plot was also obtained from calculation of
raw data that consists of qt(mg/g) and qe (mg/g) which represent the
amount of formaldehyde uptake at time interval t, and the amount of
formaldehyde uptake at equilibrium. The calculation was originated
from the differential equation of pseudo-second-order as shown in Eq.
(7) [69].
dqt
dt
(
= k2 qe2 − qt )2 (7)
where the rate constant of pseudo-second-order adsorption was re-
presented by k2. The integration of Eq. (7) by using the initial condition
of t = 0 to t and qt = 0 to qt yields a linear equation of pseudo-second-
order as shown in Eq. (8).
t 1 1
= + t
qt k2 qe2 qe (8)
where qt (mg/g) represents the amount of formaldehyde adsorbed at
any time t and k2 (min g/mg) is the rate constant of pseudo-second-
order adsorption kinetics. The rate constant of formaldehyde uptake, k2
was obtained from the intercept of pseudo-second-order linear plot
[78]. The slope of linear plot gave qe value. The details value of rate
constant, k1, k2, coefficients regression, R2 and the predicted qe are also
shown in Table 5.
Fig. 13 shows Elovich model plot of ln time versus formaldehyde
adsorption capacity (mg/g), i.e; milligrams of formaldehyde adsorbed
by one gram of carbonized oil palm char. This kinetic model was ori-
ginated from Elovich equation, Eq. (9) as explained by Chien and
Clayton, 1979 [79].
dq
= αe−βq
dt (9)
where q represents the amount of formaldehyde adsorbed at time t and
α and β are constant. Low, 1960 stated that a fast adsorption is not
ruled by exponential law [80], so the constant α was considered as
initial rate in the experiment, i.e; since dq/dt = α as q = 0. The Eq. (9)
was usually favorably presented in integrated form of equation. It was
integrated by assuming q = 0 when t = 0 and yields Eq. (10).
1
q= ln(1 + αβt )
β (10)
The simplified form of Eq. (10) was achieved with one assumption,
where αβt > > 1, yields Eq. (11).
1 1
q= ln αβ + ⎛⎜ ⎞⎟ ln t
β ⎝β⎠ (11)
Table 5 shows the pseudo-first-order, pseudo-second-order, Elovich
equation and intraparticle diffusion model rate constants, and amount
of formaldehyde uptake at equilibrium on oil palm fiber treated at
different carbonization temperatures (500–800 °C), initial concentra-
tion = 2.1 ppm and 0.2 g sample at 25 °C. The rate constant value ob-
tained was the mass transfer limiting value [81] of formaldehyde in oil
palm char. The diffusion and surface adsorption of formaldehyde within
the oil palm char which happened very fast caused the mass transfer of
the formaldehyde to external surface limit the adsorption rate. The
value of αβtobtained from Elovich linear plot was greater than 1 and
thus support the assumption that applied on Eq. (10). The reaction rate
of formaldehyde adsorption was enhanced as the carbonization tem-
perature increased from 500 °C to 800 °C as the β value was found to
increase as the carbonization temperature increased (shown in Table 4).
Basically, slope and intercept of all linear kinetic (Figs. 11–13) plots
exhibited the adsorption capacity and adsorption rate constant [35],
[81–83]. As for this study, it represents the formaldehyde adsorption
capacity, and formaldehyde adsorption rate constant of the oil palm
char as adsorbent. The slope and intercept of Elovich linear plot gave
1
the value of 1 and β ln αβ respectively. Details of the obtained value for
β
N.R. Abdul Manap et al.
1 1
and β
ln αβ and coefficients regression, R2 are shown in Table 5.
β
The applicability of pseudo-first-order, pseudo-second-order,
Elovich model and intraparticle diffusion model equation to the kinetics
of formaldehyde sorption in oil palm char were evaluated by comparing
the value of the correlation coefficients, R2 of each models possessed by
each samples [35,68,84,85]. The nearest correlation coefficients, R2
value to unity was taken to represent the model of formaldehyde ad-
sorption onto oil palm char. The kinetic model of formaldehyde ad-
sorption was best described using pseudo-first-order for oil palm char
carbonized at 500 °C, 600 °C and 700 °C. This is because all the samples
possessed high correlation coefficients, R2 among other kinetic models.
The physisorption controlled the formaldehyde adsorption onto oil
palm char because pseudo-second-order controlled the rate of chemi-
sorption [86]. A basic physical gas adsorption is well-known assigned as
second order reaction. The existence of extra vacant sites over for-
maldehyde molecules caused the reaction fitted well with pseudo-first-
order. The extra vacant sites were found related to the amount of sur-
face area possessed by each oil palm fiber treated at 500 °C, 600 °C and
700 °C (Table 2). The surface area of oil palm char treated at 800 °C was
the lowest among all samples. Low surface area gave small amount of
vacant site thus, oil palm fiber treated at 800 °C fitted well with Elovich
model of kinetic.
As the carbonization temperature increased to 800 °C, the kinetics of
formaldehyde adsorbed on oil palm char was shifted from pseudo-first-
order to an Elovich model. The Elovich model is a well-known model
that described the adsorption of gas onto solid systems [87]. It ex-
plained the rate of formaldehyde adsorption onto oil palm char de-
creased exponentially with the increasing number of formaldehyde
molecules, following the Elovich equation (shown in Eq. (9)). The same
observation was obtained by Ho (2006) where the rate of carbon di-
oxide adsorbed on manganese dioxide decreased exponentially when
the amount of gas increased followed the Elovich equation (Eq. (9))
[88].
Fig. 14 shows a plot of square root of time, t0.5 versus amount of
formaldehyde adsorbed on the oil palm char. The square root of time
analysis is a quantitative technique used to determine a factor that
limits the rate of an adsorption of formaldehyde on oil palm char. The
rate of adsorption is often limited by either kinetic control or diffusion
control. It was originated from Weber and Morris (1964) and shown in
Eq. (12) [89]
qt = kid t 0.5
(12)
where kid is the diffusional rate parameter. The slope of this plot gave
the value of kid which is known as the diffusional rate parameter.
Table 3 shows the value of diffusional rate parameter, kd. Ho et al.
(2011), reviewed a number of literatures and concluded that if the
equilibrium time occurred within 3 h’ time, the process is kinetic con-
trolled, while the diffusion controlled process happened when the
equilibrium time achieved over 24 h, and both kinetic and diffusion
controlled the process when the equilibrium time is between 3 and 24 h
[90]. In this study, both kinetic and diffusion controlled the for-
maldehyde adsorption occurred as it took 5 h to achieve equilibrium.
This is supported by a finding shown in Fig. 8 where the adsorption of
formaldehyde happened in two phases, i.e.; rapid and slow phases. The
kinetic controlled observed at rapid phase and the intraparticle diffu-
sion of formaldehyde that took placed within pores of the carbonized
oil palm char contributed to a slow phase formaldehyde adsorption.
4. Conclusion
In this work, oil palm mesocarp fiber was carbonized at 500 °C,
600 °C, 700 °C and 800 °C in order to assess the effect of carbonization
temperature on kinetic and isotherm model. Oil palm mesocarp fiber
char used as adsorbent and successfully adsorbed formaldehyde in in-
door air. The oil palm fiber carbonized at 500 °C gave the highest
981
Journal of Environmental Chemical Engineering 6 (2018) 970–983
percentage of formaldehyde removal followed by sample carbonized at
700 °C, 800 °C and 600 °C. The experimental data was evaluated using
pseudo-first-order, pseudo-second-order and Elovich model for kinetic
study and the Langmuir isotherm, Freundlich isotherm and Temkin
isotherm model for isotherm study. The oil palm fiber carbonized at
500 °C, 600 °C and 700 °C were found to have the highest correlation
coefficients value, R2 of pseudo-first-order, while the oil palm fiber
treated at 800 °C followed the Elovich equation. The kinetic and dif-
fusion controlled the formaldehyde adsorption process as the for-
maldehyde adsorption occurred between 3 and 24 h, i.e 5 h, to reach
equilibrium. The monolayer adsorption of formaldehyde was proved by
the Langmuir isotherm possessed by POFN500 and POFN800 while
POFN600 and POFN700 followed Freundlich isotherm model. The ad-
sorption of all initial concentrations, i.e 0.5, 0.75, 0.9 and 2.1 ppm of
formaldehyde on oil palm mesocarp fiber carbonized at studied tem-
perature (500 °C to 800 °C) were favorable to happen as all RL showed
1 < RL < 0 and n values (n > 1). Based on these results, it can be
concluded that, the carbonization temperature affected the adsorption
kinetic and isotherm properties of the oil palm chars. When the car-
bonization temperature increased, the surface properties of the oil palm
chars changed and lead to a different kinetic and isotherm model.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank the Ministry of Higher Education
for supporting this research through research grant number ERGS/1/
2013/STG05/UKM/02/2. The instrument used in this study has been
supported by Makmal Pencirian Struktur Molekul (MPSM), the Centre
for Research and Instrumentation Management (CRIM), Universiti
Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM). We also thank the National Institute of
Occupational Safety and Health Malaysia (NIOSH) for research colla-
boration and Ministry of Higher Education for financial support
through MyBrain15 MyPhD.
References
[1] S. Wang, H.M. Ang, M.O. Tade, Volatile organic compounds in indoor environment
and photocatalytic oxidation: state of the art, Environ. Int. 33 (2007) 694–705.
[2] H. Chen, C.E. Nanayakkara, V.H. Grassian, Titanium dioxide photocatalysis in at-
mospheric chemistry, Chem. Rev. 112 (2012) 5919–5948.
[3] S. Kim, H.J. Kim, Comparison of standard methods and gas chromatography
method in determination of formaldehyde emission from MDF bonded with for-
maldehyde-based resins, Bioresour. Technol. 96 (2005) 1457–1464.
[4] W. Liang, X. Yang, Indoor formaldehyde in real buildings: emission source identi-
fication, overall emission rate estimation, concentration increase and decay pat-
terns, Build. Environ. 69 (2013) 114–120.
[5] Doo Il Kim, Jong Hwa Park, Shin Do Kim, Jae-Young Lee, Jin-Heong Yim, Jong-
Ki Jeon, Sung Hoon Park, Young-Kwon Park, Comparison of removal ability of
indoor formaldehyde over different materials functionalized with various amine
groups, J. Ind. Eng. Chem. 17 (2011) 1–5.
[6] H. Yu, K. Zhang, C. Rossi, Experimental study of the photocatalytic degradation of
formaldehyde in indoor air using a nano-particulate titanium dioxide photocatalyst,
Indoor Built Environ. 6 (2007) 529–537.
[7] M. Department of Occupational Safety and Health, Ministry of Human Resources,
Industry Code of Practice on Indoor Air Quality 2010, (2010) 1–50.
[8] T. Salthammer, S. Mentese, R. Marutzky, Formaldehyde in the indoor environment,
Chem. Rev. 110 (2010) 2536–2572.
[9] Mohd Talib Latif, NorHafizah Baharudin, Puvaneswary Velayutham,
Normah Awang, Harimah Hamdan, Ruqyyah Mohamad, Mazlin B. Mokhtar,
Composition of heavy metals and airborne fibers in the indoor environment of a
building during renovation, Environ. Monit. Asses. 181 (2011) 479–489.
[10] A. Berenjian, N. Chan, H.J. Malmiri, Volatile organic compounds removal methods:
a review, Am. J. Biochem. Biotechnol. 8 (2012) 220–229.
[11] W.B. Li, J.X. Wang, H. Gong, Catalytic combustion of VOCs on non-noble metal
catalysts, Catal. Today 148 (2010) 81–87.
[12] J. Karuppiah, E. Linga Reddy, P. Manoj Kumar Reddy, B. Ramaraju, R. Karvembu,
C. Subrahmanyam, Abatement of mixture of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in
a catalytic non-thermal plasma reactor, J. Hazard. Mater. 237–238 (2012) 283–289.
[13] S. Sultana, A. Vandenbroucke, C. Leys, N. De Geyter, R. Morent, Abatement of VOCs
with alternate adsorption and plasma-assisted regeneration: a review, Catalysts 5
(2015) 718–746.
[14] Q.B. Meng, G.-S. Yang, Y.-S. Lee, Synthesis of 4-vinylpyridine-divinylbenzene co-
polymer adsorbents for microwave-assisted desorption of benzene, J. Hazard.
Mater. 205–206 (2012) 118–125.
[15] R. Valenciano, E. Aylón, M.T. Izquierdo, A critical short review of equilibrium and
N.R. Abdul Manap et al.
kinetic adsorption models for VOCs breakthrough curves modelling, Adsorpt. Sci.
Technol. 33 (2015) 851–870.
[16] M. Li, S.C. Wu, Y. Shih, Characterization of volatile organic compound adsorption
on multiwall carbon nanotubes under different levels of relative humidity using
linear solvation energy relationship, J. Hazard. Mater. 315 (2016) 35–46.
[17] M.F.M.J. Ahmed, W. Khanday, M. Asif, B. Hameed, Mesoporous carbonaceous
material from fish scales as low-cost adsorbent for reactive orange 16 adsorption, J.
Taiwan Inst. Chem. Eng. (2016) 1–8.
[18] N. Baimatova, M. Derbissalin, A. Kabulov, B. Kenessov, Adsorption of benzene,
toluene, ethylbenzene and o-xylene by carbon-based adsorbents, Eurasian Chem.
Technol. J. 18 (2016) 123–131.
[19] F. Rezaei, A.A. Rownaghi, S. Monjezi, R.P. Lively, C.W. Jones, SOx/NOx removal
from flue gas streams by solid adsorbents: a review of current challenges and future
directions, Energy Fuels (2015) 1–65.
[20] W.D.P. Rengga, A. Chafidz, M. Sudibandriyo, M. Nasikin, A.E. Abasaeed, Silver
nano-particles deposited on bamboo-based activated carbon for removal of for-
maldehyde, J. Environ. Chem. Eng. 5 (2017) 1657–1665.
[21] Z.A. Al-Othman, R. Ali, M. Naushad, Hexavalent chromium removal from aqueous
medium by activated carbon prepared from peanut shell: adsorption kinetics,
equilibrium and thermodynamic studies, Chem. Eng. J. 184 (2012) 238–247.
[22] S. Ibrahim, H.-M. Ang, S. Wang, Removal of emulsified food and mineral oils from
wastewater using surfactant modified barley straw, Bioresour. Technol. 100 (2009)
5744–5749.
[23] Mu. Naushad, Mohammad R. Khan, Zeid A. Al Othman, Ibrahim Al Sohaimi,
Francisco Rodriguez, Reinoso, Turki M. Turki, Rahmat Ali, Removal of BrO3− from
drinking water samples using newly developed agricultural waste-based activated
carbon and its determination by ultra-performance liquid chromatography-mass
spectrometry, Environ. Sci. Pollut. Res. 22 (2015) 15853–15865.
[24] E. Apaydin-Varol, A.E. Pütün, Preparation and characterization of pyrolytic chars
from different biomass samples, J. Anal. Appl. Pyrolysis 98 (2012) 29–36.
[25] S.-H. Kong, S.-K. Loh, R.T. Bachmann, S.A. Rahim, J. Salimon, Biochar from oil
palm biomass: a review of its potential and challenges, Renew. Sustain. Energy Rev.
39 (2014) 729–739.
[26] N. Abdullah, F. Sulaiman, H. Gerhauser, Characterisation of oil palm empty fruit
bunches for fuel application, J. Phys. Sci. 22 (2011) 1–24.
[27] Nasrin Abu Bakar, Choo Yuen May, Mohamad Azri Sukiran, Loh Soh Kheang,
Production and characterization of bio-char from the pyrolysis of empty fruit
bunches, Am. J. Appl. Sci. 8 (2011) 984–988.
[28] W.-J. Liu, F.-X. Zeng, H. Jiang, X.-S. Zhang, Preparation of high adsorption capacity
bio-chars from waste biomass, Bioresour. Technol. 102 (2011) 8247–8252.
[29] I. Ali, M. Asim, T.A. Khan, Low cost adsorbents for the removal of organic pollutants
from wastewater, J. Environ. Manage. 113 (2012) 170–183.
[30] W.M.A. El-maaty, F.S. Awad, Studies on biosorption of mercury (II) from aqueous
solution on nitric acid modified activated carbon prepared from water, ABC J. Adv.
Res. 3 (2014) 50–73.
[31] S. Ibrahim, I. Fatimah, H.-M. Ang, S. Wang, Adsorption of anionic dyes in aqueous
solution using chemically modified barley straw, Water Sci. Technol. 62 (2010)
1177–1182.
[32] G.S. Simate, N. Maledi, A. Ochieng, S. Ndlovu, J. Zhang, L.F. Walubita, Coal-based
adsorbents for water and wastewater treatment, J. Environ. Chem. Eng. 4 (2016)
2291–2312.
[33] J.-S. Cao, J.-X. Lin, F. Fang, M.-T. Zhang, Z.-R. Hu, A new absorbent by modifying
walnut shell for the removal of anionic dye: kinetic and thermodynamic studies,
Bioresour. Technol. 163 (2014) 199–205.
[34] M.A.A. Mohammed, A. Salmiaton, W.A.K.G.W. Azlina, M.S.M. Amran, Gasification
of oil palm empty fruit bunches: a characterization and kinetic study, Bioresour.
Technol. 110 (2012) 628–636.
[35] I. Tan, A. Ahmad, B. Hameed, Adsorption isotherms kinetics, thermodynamics and
desorption studies of 2, 4, 6-trichlorophenol on oil palm empty fruit bunch-based
activated carbon, J. Hazard. Mater. 164 (2009) 473–482.
[36] Z. Chowdhury, S.M. Zain, A.K. Rashid, Equilibrium isotherm modeling kinetics and
thermodynamics study for removal of lead from waste water, E-J. Chem. 8 (2011)
333–339.
[37] K. Munusamy, R.S. Somani, H.C. Bajaj, Breakthrough adsorption studies of mixed
gases on mango (Mangifera indica L.) seed shell derived activated carbon extrudes,
J. Environ. Chem. Eng. 3 (2015) 2750–2759.
[38] O. Ioannidou, A. Zabaniotou, Agricultural residues as precursors for activated
carbon production—a review, Renew. Sustain. Energy Rev. 11 (2007) 1966–2005.
[39] W.M.W. Daud, W.S.W. Ali, M.Z. Sulaiman, Effects of carbonization temperature on
pore development in palm-shell-based activated carbon, Carbon N. Y. 38 (2000)
1925–1932.
[40] A.R. Mohamed, M. Mohammadi, G.N. Darzi, Preparation of carbon molecular sieve
from lignocellulosic biomass: a review, Renew. Sustain. Energy Rev. 14 (2010)
1591–1599.
[41] R. Portela, I. Jansson, S. Suárez, M. Villarroel, B. Sánchez, P. Avila, Natural silicate-
TiO2 hybrids for photocatalytic oxidation of formaldehyde in gas phase, Chem. Eng.
J. 310 (2017) 560–570.
[42] N. Mohamad Nor, L.C. Lau, K.T. Lee, A.R. Mohamed, Synthesis of activated carbon
from lignocellulosic biomass and its applications in air pollution control—a review,
J. Environ. Chem. Eng. 1 (2013) 658–666.
[43] S. Aber, A. Khataee, M. Sheydaei, Optimization of activated carbon fiber prepara-
tion from Kenaf using K2HPO4 as chemical activator for adsorption of phenolic
compounds, Bioresour. Technol. 100 (2009) 6586–6591.
[44] Matthias Thommes, Katsumi Kaneko, Alexander V. Neimark, James P. Olivier,
Francisco Rodriguez-Reinoso, Jean Rouquerol, Kenneth S.W. Sing, Physisorption of
gases, with special reference to the evaluation of surface area and pore size
982
Journal of Environmental Chemical Engineering 6 (2018) 970–983
distribution (IUPAC Technical Report), Pure Appl. Chem. 87 (2015) 9–10.
[45] K. Sing, The use of nitrogen adsorption for the characterisation of porous materials,
Colloids Surf. A: Physicochem. Eng. Asp. 187–188 (2001) 3–9.
[46] K.S.W. Sing, Reporting physisorption data for gas/solid systems with special re-
ference to the determination of surface area and porosity, Int. Union Pure Appl.
Chem. 54 (1982) 1–18.
[47] S. Bera, M. Pal, A. Naskar, S. Jana, Hierarchically structured ZnO-graphene hollow
microspheres towards effective reusable adsorbent for organic pollutant via pho-
todegradation process, J. Alloys Compd. 669 (2016) 177–186.
[48] K.K. Pandey, A study of chemical structure of soft and harwood and wood polymers
by FTIR spectrscopy, J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 71 (1999) 1969–1975.
[49] Suhas, P.J.M. Carrott, M.M.L. Ribeiro Carrott, Lignin from natural adsorbent to
activated carbon: a review, Bioresour. Technol. 98 (2007) 2301–2312.
[50] F. Abnisa, A. Arami-Niya, W.M.A.W. Daud, J.N. Sahu, Characterization of bio-oil
and bio-char from pyrolysis of palm oil wastes, Bioenergy Res. 6 (2013) 830–840.
[51] F. Abnisa, A. Arami-Niya, W.M.A. Wan Daud, J.N. Sahu, I.M. Noor, Utilization of oil
palm tree residues to produce bio-oil and bio-char via pyrolysis, Energy Convers.
Manage. 76 (2013) 1073–1082.
[52] J.M. Dias, M.C.M. Alvim-Ferraz, M.F. Almeida, J. Rivera-Utrilla, M. Sánchez-Polo,
Waste materials for activated carbon preparation and its use in aqueous-phase
treatment: a review, J. Environ. Manage. 85 (2007) 833–846.
[53] A.W. Samsuri, F. Sadegh-Zadeh, B.J. Seh-Bardan, Characterization of biochars
produced from oil palm and rice husks and their adsorption capacities for heavy
metals, Int. J. Environ. Sci. Technol. 11 (2014) 967–976.
[54] D. Chen, Z. Qu, Y. Sun, Y. Wang, Adsorption–desorption behavior of gaseous for-
maldehyde on different porous Al2O3 materials, Colloids Surf. A: Physicochem. Eng.
Asp. 441 (2014) 433–440.
[55] A.M. Ewlad-Ahmed, M.A. Morris, S.V. Patwardhan, L.T. Gibson, Removal of for-
maldehyde from air using functionalized silica supports, Environ. Sci. Technol. 46
(2012) 13354–13360.
[56] E.M. Carter, L.E. Katz, G.E. Speitel, D. Ramirez, Gas-phase formaldehyde adsorption
isotherm studies on activated carbon: correlations of adsorption capacity to surface
functional group density, Environ. Sci. Technol. 45 (2011) 6498–6503.
[57] Heejin Lee, Rae-su Park, Hyung Won Lee, Yeojin Hong, Yejin Lee, Sung Hoon Park,
Sang-Chul Jung, Kyung-Seun Yoo, Jong-Ki Jeon, Young-Kwon Park, Adsorptive
removal of atmospheric pollutants over Pyropia tenera chars, Carbon Lett. 19
(2016) 79–88.
[58] J. Li, Z. Li, B. Liu, Q. Xia, H. Xi, Effect of relative humidity on adsorption of for-
maldehyde on modified activated carbons, Chin. J. Chem. Eng. 16 (2008) 871–875.
[59] F. Su, C. Lu, S. Hu, Adsorption of benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, p-xylene by
NaOCl-oxidized carbon nanotubes, Colloids Surf. A: Physicochem. Eng. Asp. 353
(2010) 83–91.
[60] A. Demirbas, Agricultural based activated carbons for the removal of dyes from
aqueous solutions: a review, J. Hazard. Mater. 167 (2009) 1–9.
[61] J. Guo, A.C. Luo, Adsorption of hydrogen sulphide (H2S) by activated carbons de-
rived from oil-palm shell, Carbon N. Y. 45 (2007) 330–336.
[62] Xiaona Li, Qiaoyu Xu, Guomin Han, Wenqing Zhu, Zhanhui Chen, Xingbing He,
Xingjun Tian, Equilibrium and kinetic studies of copper (II) removal by three spe-
cies of dead fungal biomasses, J. Hazard. Mater. 165 (2009) 469–474.
[63] L. Li, L. Chen, H. Shi, X. Chen, W. Lin, Evaluation of mesoporous bioactive glass
(MBG) as adsorbent for removal of methylene blue (MB) from aqueous solution, J.
Environ. Chem. Eng. 4 (2016) 1451–1459.
[64] S.Y. Kazemi, P. Biparva, E. Ashtiani, Cerastoderma lamarcki shell as a natural, low
cost and new adsorbent to removal of dye pollutant from aqueous solutions: equi-
librium and kinetic studies, Ecol. Eng. 88 (2016) 82–89.
[65] G. Najafpour, Acid hydrolysis pretreated palm oil lignocellulosic wastes, Int. J. Eng.
20 (2007) 147–156.
[66] R.S. Treptow, Le Chatelier’s principle: a reexamination and method of graphic il-
lustration, J. Chem. Educ. 57 (1980) 417.
[67] B.H. Hameed, M.I. El-Khaiary, Batch removal of malachite green from aqueous
solutions by adsorption on oil palm trunk fibre: equilibrium isotherms and kinetic
studies, J. Hazard. Mater. 154 (2008) 237–244.
[68] Jyi Yeong Tseng, Ching-Yuan Chang, Chiung-Fen Chang, Yi-Hung Chen, Chia-
Chi Chang, Dar-Ren Ji, Chun-Yu Chiu, Pen-Chi Chiang, Kinetics and equilibrium of
desorption removal of copper from magnetic polymer adsorbent, J. Hazard. Mater.
171 (2009) 370–377.
[69] B.H. Hameed, A.A. Ahmad, N. Aziz, Isotherms, kinetics and thermodynamics of acid
dye adsorption on activated palm ash, Chem. Eng. J. 133 (2007) 195–203.
[70] M. Zhang, B. Gao, S. Varnoosfaderani, A. Hebard, Y. Yao, M. Inyang, Preparation
and characterization of a novel magnetic biochar for arsenic removal, Bioresour.
Technol. 130 (2013) 457–462.
[71] M.A.A. Zaini, M. Zakaria, S.H. Mohd-Setapar, M.A. Che-Yunus, Sludge-adsorbents
from palm oil mill effluent for methylene blue removal, J. Environ. Chem. Eng. 1
(2013) 1091–1098.
[72] Mu. Naushad, Tansir Ahamad, Gaurav Sharma, Ala’ H. Al-Muhtaseb, Ahmad
B. Albadarin, Mohammad M. Alam, Zeid A. Al Othman, Saad M. Alshehri, Ayman
A. Ghafar, Synthesis and characterization of a new starch/SnO2 nanocomposite for
efficient adsorption of toxic Hg2+ metal ion, Chem. Eng. J. 300 (2016) 306–316.
[73] H. Tavakoli, M.R. Ghasemi, Equilibrium kinetics and breakthrough studies for ad-
sorption of hydrogen fluoride on sodium fluoride, Chem. Eng. Process. Process
Intensif. 49 (2010) 435–440.
[74] A. Demirbas, A. Sari, O. Isildak, Adsorption thermodynamics of stearic acid onto
bentonite, J. Hazard. Mater. 135 (2006) 226–231.
[75] S. Larous, A.-H. Meniai, Adsorption of diclofenac from aqueous solution using ac-
tivated carbon prepared from olive stones, Int. J. Hydrogen Energy 41 (24) (2016)
10380–10390.
N.R. Abdul Manap et al.
[76] A.M. Aljeboree, A.N. Alshirifi, A.F. Alkaim, Kinetics and equilibrium study for the
adsorption of textile dyes on coconut shell activated carbon, Arab. J. Chem. 10
(Supplement 2) (2017) S3381–S3393.
[77] M.A. Siti Hadjar, A.A. Astimar, N. Norzita, S.A. Noraishah, Pore structure of carbon
granules prepared from slow pyrolysis of oil palm empty fruit bunch fibers, J. Oil
Palm Res. 25 (2013) 216–227.
[78] J.V. Flores-Cano, M. Sánchez-Polo, J. Messoud, I. Velo-Gala, R. Ocampo-Pérez,
J. Rivera-Utrilla, Overall adsorption rate of metronidazole, dimetridazole and dia-
trizoate on activated carbons prepared from coffee residues and almond shells, J.
Environ. Manage. 169 (2016) 116–125.
[79] S.H. Chien, W.R. Clayton, Application of Elovich equation to the kinetics of phos-
phate release and sorption in soils, Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J. 44 (1980) 265.
[80] M.J.D. Low, Kinetics of chemisorption of gases on solids, Chem. Rev. 60 (1960)
267–312.
[81] L.A. Jonas, J.A. Rehrmann, Predictive equations in gas adsorption kinetics, Carbon
N. Y. 11 (1973) 59–64.
[82] M.A. Siti Hadjar, A.A. Astimar, N. Norzita, S.A. Noraishah, Phenol adsorption by
activated carbon of different fibre size derived from empty fruit bunches, J. Oil
Palm Res. 24 (2012) 1524–1532.
983
Journal of Environmental Chemical Engineering 6 (2018) 970–983
[83] J.-L. Shie, C.-H. Lee, C.-S. Chiou, C.-Y. Chang, Photodegradation kinetics of for-
maldehyde using light sources of UVA UVC and UVLED in the presence of composed
silver titanium oxide photocatalyst, J. Hazard. Mater. 155 (2008) 164–172.
[84] T.D. Nguyen-Phan, M.B. Song, E.W. Shin, Removal efficiency of gaseous benzene
using lanthanide-doped mesoporous titania, J. Hazard. Mater. 167 (2009) 75–81.
[85] K.Y. Andrew Lin, W. Der Lee, Self-assembled magnetic graphene supported ZIF-67
as a recoverable and efficient adsorbent for benzotriazole, Chem. Eng. J. 284 (2016)
1017–1027.
[86] Y.S. Ho, G. Mckay, A comparison of chemisorption kinetic models applied to pol-
lutant removal on various sorbents, Process Saf. Environ. Prot. 76 (1998) 332–340.
[87] W. Rudzinski, T. Panczyk, Kinetics of isothermal adsorption on energetically het-
erogeneous solid surfaces: a new theoretical description based on the statistical rate
theory of interfacial transport, J. Phys. Chem. B 104 (2000) 9149–9162.
[88] Y. Ho, Review of second-order models for adsorption systems, J. Hazard. Mater. 136
(2006) 681–689.
[89] W.J. Weber, J.C. Morris, S. Journal, A. Water, W. Association, N. April, Adsorp.
Heterogen. Aqueous Syst. 56 (1964) 447–456.
[90] Y.S. Ho, G. Mckay, T. Hong, W. Bay, H. Kong, T. Hong, Kinetics of pollutant sorption
by biosorbents: review, Sep. Purif. Methods 2 (2000) 37–41.