Using predictive models unravel the potential of titanium oxide loaded activated carbon for removal of leachate ammoniacal nitrogen

Abstract

The TiO2 nanocomposite efficiency was determined under optimized conditions with activated carbon to remove ammoniacal nitrogen (NH3 -N) from the leachate sample. In this work, the facile impregnation and pyrolysis synthesis method was employed to prepare the nanocomposite, and their formation was confirmed using the XRD and Raman studies. In contrast, Raman phonon mode intensity ratio ID /IG increases from 2.094 to 2.311, indicating the increase of electronic conductivity and defects with the loading of TiO2 nanoparticles. The optimal conditions for achieving maximum NH3 -N removal of 75.8% were found to be a pH of 7, a dose of 1.75 mg/L, and a temperature of 30oC, with a corresponding time of 160 minutes. All adsorption isotherm records were properly fitted, and linear plots were utilized to analyze NH3 -N removal through adsorption kinetic models. Additionally, an effective central composite design (CCD) of response surface methodology (RSM) was employed to investigate the efficient removal of NH3 -N.