PENNISETUM TYPHOIDES BASED BIOCHAR PREPARED FOR THE REMOVAL OF METHYLENE BLUE: A COLUMN STUDYMATHEW MUPA, SARAH ZVOUSHE, NETAI MUKARATIRWA-MUCHANYEREYI AND CLEOPAS MACHINGAUTAAbstract A Pennisetum typhoides biomass based biochar was prepared using an ELSA Research carbonization system, a form of a Top-Lit-Up-draft air gasifier. The biochar was used as a low cost adsorbent for the removal of methylene blue from synthetic waste waters in a fixed bed column. Pennisetum typhoides based biochar had an iodine number of 705.6 mg·g-1 and methylene blue number of 300 mg·g-1 suggesting that biochar had a microporous structure. Results showed a dependence of adsorption properties on particle size, flow rate and bed depth. Under optimum conditions the breakthrough times of 120 minutes and exhaustion time of 420 minutes at abed depth of 6 cm and a flow rate of 2 mL·min-1 were achieved. Experimental data fitted well on to the Bed Depth Service Time and Thomas models with R2 values greater than 0.99 in most cases. FTIR spectrum showed existence of typical absorption bands of biochar based adsorbents reported by other authors.
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