Waste Glass Fiber Fabric as a Support for Facile Synthesis of Microporous Carbon To Adsorb Cr(VI) from Wastewater

Activated carbon coated glass fiber fabric (AC@GFF) was successfully synthesized by the carbonization of polyvinylpyrrolidone with the assistance of KOH onto waste glass fiber fabric (GFF). The samples were characterized by XRD, SEM, N₂-sorption, FTIR, XPS, TG, and DSC measurements. It is shown that KOH not only acted as an activator during the carbonization process but also facilitated the adherence of PVP onto the surface of the glass fibers by increasing the viscosity of the PVP precursor solutions. The prepared AC@GFF was applied to uptake Cr­(VI) from synthetic wastewater, and the factors such as the pH, initial concentration of adsorbate, contact time, and adsorption temperature influencing the adsorption of the Cr­(VI) were investigated. The adsorption data were fitted with the isotherm and kinetic models. The adsorption of metal ions by the AC@GFF from a real metal passivation wastewater proved that the synthesized adsorbent was highly selective to Cr­(VI) against its inferring Zn­(II). The spent adsorbent together with the adsorbed Cr ions was used as an effective glass colorant. The method provided a sustainable entrapment of toxic chromium ions in a glass matrix to produce a color glass, eliminating pollutions from the Cr­(VI), waste GFF, and spent adsorbent.