Overall
- Language
- English
- Conflict of Interest
- In relation to this article, we declare that there is no conflict of interest.
- Publication history
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Received May 30, 2025
Revised August 4, 2025
Accepted August 23, 2025
Available online January 25, 2026
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This is an Open-Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/bync/3.0) which permits
unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Most Cited
Polyethylenimine‑Impregnated Powdered Activated Carbon for Efficient Removal of Reactive Yellow 2 from Aqueous Solutions
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11814-025-00548-4
Abstract
This study optimizes polyethylenimine (PEI) impregnation on powdered activated carbon (PAC) to maximize adsorption of
the anionic dye Reactive Yellow 2 (RY2). Three factors, namely PEI molecular weight (600, 800, 1200, 10,000 and 70,000 g
mol−1), PEI content (0.1–10 wt.%), and impregnation stirring speed (0–200 rpm), were systematically evaluated in triplicate.
Under optimal conditions (PEI Mw = 800 g mol−1, PEI content = 1.0 wt.%, stirring = 40 rpm), PEI-impregnated PAC achieved
a maximum adsorption capacity of 477.02 mg g−1, which is 7.4-fold higher than raw PAC (64.13 mg g−1). FT-IR, BET, FESEM/
EDS, and zeta potential analyses showed that although PEI impregnation reduced surface area, the introduced amine
groups increased the surface charge by + 52.64 mV at pH 2, driving the enhanced adsorption. These results demonstrate
that PEI-impregnated activated carbon is a strong and efficient adsorbent for RY2 removal in textile wastewater treatment.
