Preparation of Diazinon Adsorbent NanoComposite using Pine Activated Carbon and Manganese Oxide Nanoparticles

The use of activated carbon in company with metal nano catalysts for pesticides removal from the environment has been considered by researchers, recently. This study aimed to remove diazinon residues from water using Nano-MnO2/PAC composite mading from Pinus eldarica activated carbon containing manganese dioxide nanoparticles.

Initially, the powdered residues of pine cone were treated using phosphoric acid and then converted to activated carbon by chemically heat method under ordinary atmosphere. Then manganese dioxide nanoparticles were synthesized in its substrate. The chemical structure and carbon appearance of the resulting pine fruit and nanocomposite were described by SEM, TEM, XRD, and IR characterization methods. Adsorption tests are performed to evaluate the removal efficiency of diazinon from aqueous solution by applying operational variables including pH (2-10), temperature (16-42 0C), contact time (2-120 min), and at initial concentrations (0.05-100 mg/L) of diazinon was studied.

Microscopic images and spectroscopy showed that manganese dioxide nanoparticles with an approximate size of 37.5 nm were present in the nanocomposite. The results showed that small amounts of nanocomposite (3 mg/L) were able to remove 94.6% of the diazinon with an initial concentration of 40 mg/L. The best description of the adsorption process at optimal pH 4, with fit in the Langmuir isotherm model with a correlation coefficient of 0.985.

According to results, the presence of manganese dioxide nanoparticles improved the removal efficiency of diazinon by 13.7% compared to activated carbon of pine fruit.