CHEMICAL ENGINEERING TRANSACTIONS VOL. 73, 2019 A publication of The Italian Association of Chemical Engineering Online at www.aidic.it/cet Guest Editors: Andrea D’Anna, Paolo Ciambelli, Carmelo Sunseri Copyright © 2019, AIDIC Servizi S.r.l. I SBN 978-88-95608-70-9; I SSN 2283-9216 Decolourization of Anionic Dye by Activated Carbon- Supported Nano-Zero Valent Iron (nZVI) Nur Aishah Zarime, Wan Zuhari Wan Yaacob, Habibah Jamil Geology Programme, Faculty of Science and Technology, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Malaysia aishahzarime@gmail.com, drwzwy@gmail.com and bib@ukm.edu.my This study investigates the capability of activated carbon-supported nano-zero valent iron (AC-nZVI) to remediate the anionic dye (Acid Orange II). The supported nanoparticles (AC-nZVI) were synthesized by using chemical reduction method of Ferric Chloride Tetrahydrate and Sodium Borohydride, NaBH4 solutions. The absorbents of nZVI and AC-nZVI were characterized by using Brunnaer–Emmett–Teller (BET) surface area, Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FESEM), X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) and X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy with Auger Electron Spectroscopy (XPS-AES). Batch Tests were also conducted to delineate the effectiveness of adsorbent materials in removing Acid Orange II. Batch tests involved of five effects including dose, initial concentration, pH, kinetic and temperature. In initial concentration effect, AC-nZVI exhibits larger adsorption capacity (4.41 mg/g) compared to activated carbon (1.82 mg/g) due to the dispersion of nZVI particles on activated carbon particles, consequently providing more sites for adsorption. The results also revealed that the supported nZVI can be an effective absorbent to remove anionic dye wastewater. 1. Introduction Nano zero-valent iron (nZVI) has been commonly used in groundwater treatment and site remediation due to its higher reactivity (Chen et al. 2012; Vilardi et al. 2017; Bavasso et al. 2018). This nZVI use the concept of adsorption process, which is one of the most efficient methods in removing pollutants from wastewater. According to Shen et al. (2009), the advantages of adsorption process are inexpensive, simple in operation and no formation of sludge. However, nZVI itself has its own limitation that are easily agglomerate and sedimentation due to iron's magnetic attraction forces resulting in reducing its mobility (Busch et al. 2015). Modification on nZVI was proposed to reduce nZVI particles from agglomerated (Kakavandi et al. 2014; Busch et al. 2015). The main objective of the current study is to investigate the capability of activated carbon- supported nano-zero valent iron nanoparticles (AC-nZVI) to remediate the anionic dye (Acid Orange II). According to Shen et al. (2009), activated carbon is frequently used in wastewater treatment due to its large specific surface area, although it is a bit expensive to run. 2. Materials and Method Materials used in this study are activated carbon and Acid Orange II supplied in solid state. Chemicals such as Ferric Chloride Tetrahydrate, FeCl 3 .6H 2 O (Acros organics, 99+%), Sodium Borohidrate, NaBH 4 (Acros organics, 98+%) and Ethanol C 2 H 6 O (Fisher Scientific, 99.4%) were used in this analysis. 2.1 Synthesizing Composite Nanoparticles Composite nanoparticles were synthesized by using chemical reduction method (Yaacob and How, 2015). Ferric chloride solutions were prepared by mixing 4.38g ferric chloride tetrahydrate with 50 ml mixture of ethanol and deionized water (35ml ethanol + 15ml of deionized water). 4 g of activated carbon was added to ferric chloride solution and the mixture was shaken using ultrasonic shaker for 30 minutes. To produce NaBH 4 solutions, 6.091 g sodium borohydride was dissolved in 100 ml deionized water. The NaBH 4 solutions were then pipetted into ferric chloride solution on a magnetic stirrer. The mixture was stirred for 20 minutes after the 85 DOI: 10.3303/CET1973015 Paper Received: 30 March 2018; Revised: 06 September 2018; Accepted: 10 January 2019 Please cite this article as: Zarime N.A., Wan Yaacob W.Z., Jamil H., 2019, Decolourization of Anionic Dye by Activated Carbon-supported Nano-zero Valent Iron (nzvi) , Chemical Engineering Transactions, 73, 85-90 DOI:10.3303/CET1973015