Low-Temperature Conversion of Discarded Cigarette Filters into Magnetic Porous Carbon for Diethyl Phthalate Removal
4 affiliations
- 1Department of Cosmetic Application and Management, St. Mary’s Junior College of Medicine, Nursing and Management, Yilan City 266, Taiwan
- 2Department of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology, National Taipei University of Technology, Taipei City 106, Taiwan
- 3Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering, National Ilan University, Yilan City 260, Taiwan
- 4Office of Student Success Analytics, James Madison University, Harrisonburg, VA 22807, USA
Abstract
Discarded cigarette filters represent a widespread cellulose-acetate waste stream with the potential for conversion into functional carbon materials. In this study, discarded cigarette filters were converted into magnetic porous carbon for diethyl phthalate (DEP) adsorption through hydrothermal carbonization, H3PO4 activation at 300 °C, and subsequent Fe(II)/Fe(III) coprecipitation. Activation increased the Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) specific surface area of the hydrochar from 5.96 to 312.47 m2 g−1, while magnetic modification further increased it to 542.41 m2 g−1. The incorporation of Fe-containing species was confirmed by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and magnetic functionality was demonstrated by superconducting quantum interference device measurements and separation using an external magnet. DEP removal by the resulting material (MAC-11) was influenced by the initial DEP concentration, solution pH, adsorbent dosage, and temperature. Response surface methodology identified a candidate operating condition of 30.4 °C, 14.6 mg adsorbent, and 236 min, under which an independent confirmation experiment achieved 87.7% DEP removal, compared with a model prediction of 85.0%. The pseudo-second-order model provided a better empirical description of the adsorption kinetics than the pseudo-first-order model, while both the Langmuir and Freundlich models described the concentration-dependent adsorption data. Although magnetic modification reduced DEP adsorption relative to the nonmagnetic activated carbon (AC-300), MAC-11 retained appreciable adsorption performance while acquiring magnetic separability. These findings demonstrate the feasibility of converting discarded cigarette filters into magnetically responsive porous carbon through comparatively low-temperature activation, highlighting the trade-off between adsorption performance and magnetic recoverability.
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BibTeX
@article{lin2026lowtemperature,
title = {{Low-Temperature Conversion of Discarded Cigarette Filters into Magnetic Porous Carbon for Diethyl Phthalate Removal}},
author = {Wang-De Lin and Ru-Hau Ye and Hua-Wei Chen and Chia-Hsuan Yang and Gui-Bing Hong},
journal = {Molecules},
year = {2026},
month = nov,
doi = {10.3390/molecules31213979},
url = {https://www.mdpi.com/1420-3049/31/21/3979},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Low-Temperature Conversion of Discarded Cigarette Filters into Magnetic Porous Carbon for Diethyl Phthalate Removal
AU - Wang-De Lin
AU - Ru-Hau Ye
AU - Hua-Wei Chen
AU - Chia-Hsuan Yang
AU - Gui-Bing Hong
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/11/04
JO - Molecules
DO - 10.3390/molecules31213979
UR - https://www.mdpi.com/1420-3049/31/21/3979
AB - Discarded cigarette filters represent a widespread cellulose-acetate waste stream with the potential for conversion into functional carbon materials. In this study, discarded cigarette filters were converted into magnetic porous carbon for diethyl phthalate (DEP) adsorption through hydrothermal carbonization, H3PO4 activation at 300 °C, and subsequent Fe(II)/Fe(III) coprecipitation. Activation increased the Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) specific surface area of the hydrochar from 5.96 to 312.47 m2 g−1, while magnetic modification further increased it to 542.41 m2 g−1. The incorporation of Fe-containing species was confirmed by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and magnetic functionality was demonstrated by superconducting quantum interference device measurements and separation using an external magnet. DEP removal by the resulting material (MAC-11) was influenced by the initial DEP concentration, solution pH, adsorbent dosage, and temperature. Response surface methodology identified a candidate operating condition of 30.4 °C, 14.6 mg adsorbent, and 236 min, under which an independent confirmation experiment achieved 87.7% DEP removal, compared with a model prediction of 85.0%. The pseudo-second-order model provided a better empirical description of the adsorption kinetics than the pseudo-first-order model, while both the Langmuir and Freundlich models described the concentration-dependent adsorption data. Although magnetic modification reduced DEP adsorption relative to the nonmagnetic activated carbon (AC-300), MAC-11 retained appreciable adsorption performance while acquiring magnetic separability. These findings demonstrate the feasibility of converting discarded cigarette filters into magnetically responsive porous carbon through comparatively low-temperature activation, highlighting the trade-off between adsorption performance and magnetic recoverability.
SN - 1420-3049
ER -