© 2023 The Authors Water Practice & Technology Vol 18 No 4, 947 doi: 10.2166/wpt.2023.

042

Synthesis of activated carbon from banana peels for dye removal of an aqueous
solution in textile industries: optimization, kinetics, and isotherm aspects

Talbachew Tadesse Nadew a, *, Mestawot Keanab, Tsegaye Sisayc, Belay Getyec

and Nigus Gabbiye Habtud
a
Department of Chemical Engineering, College of Chemical and Food Engineering, Wollo University, Kombolcha Institute of Technology,
Kombolcha, Ethiopia
b
Faculty of Chemical and Food Engineering, Bahir Dar Institute of Technology, Bahir Dar University, Bahir Dar, Ethiopia
c
Department of Chemical Engineering, College of Biological and Chemical Engineering, Addis Ababa Science and Technology University, Addis
Ababa, Ethiopia
d
Bahir Dar Institute of Technology, Bahir Dar University, Ethiopia
*Corresponding author. E-mail: talewtadesse4897@gmail.com; talewtadesse1947@gmail

TTN, 0000-0003-3530-6993

ABSTRACT

Treatment of harmful chemicals using materials at our disposal is the way forward. This study activated bio-adsorbent from
waste banana for dye removal from an aqueous solution. The banana peel was activated both thermally and chemically
with a preliminary study of a 0.5
2.5 M sulfuric acid concentration, and 50
90 °C of temperature for 1
5 h activation time.
Activation at 1.5 M acid concentration, 70 °C for 3 h showed a promising efficacy of about 90% of removing dye. Activated
banana peel was characterized using proximate analysis, BET, TGA, SEM, XRD, and FTIR. BET results showed activated
banana peel to be porous material with a surface area of 432 m2/g. The adsorption capacity of the adsorbent with different
variables range (adsorption time 20
140 min, pH 1.0
7.0, adsorbent dose 1
4 g/L and initial dye concentration 20
80 mg/
L) was tested based on a preliminary study. The adsorption process was optimized numerically and the results were; adsorption
time 60 min, pH 3, adsorbent dose 2 g/L and initial dye concentration 40 mg/L. The pseudo-second-order kinetics model and
Langmuir isotherm model were the best fit to describe the adsorption process.

Key words: activated carbon, adsorption, banana peel, dye, optimization

HIGHLIGHTS

• Adsorption of reactive blue dye using activated banana peel.

• Optimum conditions for adsorption are 60 min adsorption time, 3 pH, 2 g/L adsorbent dose and 40 mg/L initial dye concentration.
• Activated bio-adsorbent from banana peel has 432 m2/g surface area.

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Licence (CC BY 4.0), which permits copying,
adaptation and redistribution, provided the original work is properly cited (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

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 Water Practice & Technology Vol 18 No 4, 948

GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT

1. INTRODUCTION
Environmental degradation has become worse in recent years as a result of the release of numerous industrial
effluents. Untreated solid and liquid sewage is recklessly discharged in large quantities into rivers and streams,
particularly those that run through cities, towns and various production areas (Koyachew 2016). As a result,
the water body has become heavily contaminated with several pollutants. Moreover, pollution raises the price
of water purification and reduces the volume of available water. Thus, it is advocated that all wastewater types
that are most likely to be released into the environment be treated to prevent pollution (Afrad et al. 2020).
Major water contaminants include a variety of organic and inorganic substances such as heavy metals and
industrial compounds. They have the potential to harm human health and obstruct industrial or agricultural
water use (Akpor & Muchie 2011). When the level of a pollutant in the water supply exceeds an acceptable
threshold for certain water usage, such as drinking or industrial water supply, the water is termed unsafe
(Sharma & Bhattacharya 2017; Bodini et al. 2021).
Dyes are organic pollutants that are made up of synthetic aromatic organic chemicals that bind to textiles or
surfaces to give them color. Synthetic dyes are common water contaminants due to their high solubility, and they
are frequently detected in trace amounts in industrial wastewater (Ziarani et al. 2018). Industries such as textile,
cosmetics, food and paper sectors utilize dyes. However, if dyes are not properly disposed of after usage in these
sectors, they can be harmful to the environment (Sarkar et al. 2017). Dyes may have a major impact on photo-
synthetic activity in aquatic life because of the presence of aromatic metals, chloride and other chemicals. One of
the most problematic aspects of dye treatment is that the majority of dyes used in industry are resistant to light,
oxidation and aerobic digestion. Dyes, on the other hand, are typically synthetic and have a complex aromatic
molecular structure that makes them more stable, making them non-biodegradable (Chen & Zhao 2009). Because
of their high chemical and biological oxygen demands, suspended particles, turbidity and hazardous components,
dyes in wastewater undergo biological and chemical transformations, which deplete dissolved oxygen (Singh &
Arora 2011).
Chemical-based textile dyes, in contrast to natural dyes, have become increasingly popular in the textile and
dyeing sectors due to their cost-effectiveness and great stability toward many parameters such as high tempera-
ture and light. As a result, extremely contaminated effluents are discharged from those sectors (Bhatia et al. 2017).

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 Water Practice & Technology Vol 18 No 4, 949

The color and organic content of wastewater from textile dyeing and finishing activities are often high. The efflu-
ent from the textile sector is known to be brightly colored, contains a significant number of suspended
particulates, has a wide pH range, is hot and has a high chemical oxygen demand (Saini 2017). If dyes are left
untreated, they can survive in the aquatic environment for a long time due to their great thermal and light stab-
ility. Water-soluble textile dyes have had a significant impact on the fragile ecosystems surrounding industries,
and they pose serious environmental issues. A relatively little amount of dye in water is extremely visible and
limits light penetration in water systems, causing photosynthesis to suffer (Carmen & Daniela 2010; Gulnaz
et al. 2011).
The reason for this is that dyes are generally colored and so can tint surface water. It is well acknowledged that
the color of water has a significant impact on the public impression of its quality. Color is the first contaminant to
be detected in wastewater. Water with very small quantities of colors (less than 1 ppm for some colors) is very
visible and unpleasant (Ardila-Leal et al. 2021).
Chemical and physical treatment methods for dyes in effluent include adsorption, coagulation, precipitation,
filtration, membrane separation and oxidation. Dye-containing wastewaters are difficult to treat because the
dyes are refractory molecules (especially azo dyes), resistant to aerobic digestion, durable to oxidizing agents
and may be present in small amounts. Traditional color removal processes may be cost-prohibitive and/or tech-
nically challenging (Chatzisymeon et al. 2006; Nahiun 2021). As a result, an effective treatment of wastewater
containing dyes is required. Chemical reduction, ion exchange, evaporation, reverse osmosis and chemical pre-
cipitation are some of the methods for treating wastewater containing colors. The drawbacks of utilizing these
approaches include the high capital and operating costs, as well as the disposal of leftover sludge (Kumar
et al. 2012). The bio-adsorption technique with optimum conditions is an appealing option for treating contami-
nated water, especially if the adsorbent is affordable and does not require any extra processing prior to use. There
are a number of articles and review papers researched before year to year. Reviewing different articles in the lit-
erature, four parameters considered to affect the adsorption processes mostly were found to be adsorption time,
pH, adsorbent dose and initial dye concentration. However, optimization of the adsorption process variables and
studying the adsorption mechanism should be adapted to reduce labor and costs. This study aimed to synthesize
and determine the banana peel’s adsorptive capacity for removing reactive dye (reactive blue) and to investigate
the adsorption process and effect of operating parameters such as adsorption time, pH, adsorbent dose and initial
dye concentration on the removal of reactive dye from aqueous solutions. Banana peel is a waste product that can
be found in great quantities. In addition to treating the dye effluent, converting scrap banana peel into usable bio-
adsorbent reduces the amount of home garbage.

2. MATERIALS AND METHODS

2.1. Materials and chemicals
The material used in this study was the banana peel to prepare an activated banana peel bio-adsorbent. The reac-
tive blue dye was chosen as a model pollutant (adsorbate) obtained from Bahir Dar textile industry wastewater.
Chemicals (H2SO4, HCl, NaOH all with 99% purity) were used to activate the banana peel adsorbent and to
adjust the desired level of pH during the experiments.

2.2. Methods
2.2.1. Sample preparation
The raw banana peel was collected from a local juice house in Bahir Dar, Ethiopia. The banana peel was washed
with distilled water to remove the remaining dust materials. The size of the peel was reduced from 1 to 2 cm to
accelerate the drying process. After all the dripping water was sun-dried, the peel was placed in an oven (Cooper
technology, TD-1315/v/c, 2016) for 24 h at 105 °C to remove the moisture content. The dried peel was powdered
using an attrition mill. The powdered banana peel was sieved (IC-205/EV) and the particle size below 125 μm
was retained. It was then weighed and packed in an air-tight plastic bag.

2.2.2. Synthesis of activated banana peel bio-adsorbent

A two-stage activation process was conducted; a physical activation succeeded by a chemical action. These two
action methods would result in an enhanced porosity and hence produce an activated banana peel bio-adsorbent
with a relatively large surface area. The physical activation particularly was a thermal treatment to vent out vola-
tile components that leave vacant space on the precursor (banana peel) (Jjagwe et al. 2021). For this process, 20 g

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 Water Practice & Technology Vol 18 No 4, 950

of the sample was subjected to 350 °C at a rate of 10 °C/min for 3 h in a furnace under an N2 environment, based
on the method adopted by Zamora-Ledezma et al. (2021). After being cooled and size reduced to 125 μm, the
sample was further activated chemically at different operating conditions. The bio-adsorbent passed a subsequent
physical (under 350 °C temperature and inert environment) and acid activation with variation in acid concen-
tration, temperature and activation time. Acid activation is one of the most common chemical treatments and
has been used to increase the specific surface area and the number of acidic centers, modify the surface functional
group and obtain solids with high porosity (Kumar et al. 2013; Shuma et al. 2019). The parameters considered for
the activation process are acid (sulfuric acid) concentration, activation temperature and activation time (Table 1).
These parameters were studied in a range of different levels to scrutinize the respective effect and to see at which
operating conditions can the bio-adsorbent best be synthesized.

Table 1 | Parameter ranges of acid activation of banana peel bio-adsorbent

Varying parameter Range of parameter Fixed parameter

Acid concentration (M) 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 At 70 °C and 3 h

Temperature (°C) 50 60 70 80 90 At 1.5 M and 3 h
Time (h) 1 2 3 4 5 At 70 °C and 1.5 M

2.2.3. Physicochemical characterization of adsorbent (activated banana peels)

Proximate analysis: the proximate studies (moisture content, volatile matter, fixed carbon and ash content all in
percent) of the activated banana peel were determined using ASTM standard procedures as used in many studies
(Shuma et al. 2019; Kassahun et al. 2022).
pH of point of zero charge determination: Point zero charge is when the net charge on the adsorbent surface is
zero (Saruchi & Kumar 2019). The surface charge of the adsorbent depends on the pH of the solution and its pH
of point zero charges, pHpzc (Liu et al. 2010; Bakatula et al. 2018). The adsorbent surface will be negatively
charged when pH . pHpzc and positively charged if the pH , pHpzc (Belachew & Hinsene 2020). A 1.5-g of
adsorbent was added to 45 mL of 0.1 N KNO3 solution in the pH range of 2–14. The pH solution was adjusted
by adding drops of 0.1 N NaOH and HCl solutions. Each flask was sealed and shaken thoroughly for 48 h at
room temperature. Finally, the pH was measured and recorded. The net charge (ΔpH) on acid- and base-activated
banana peel surfaces was determined by the difference between initial pH and pH after 48 h.
Scanning electron microscopy (SEM): the morphology of a synthesized activated banana peel bio-adsorbent was
studied by plating the activated banana peel on an aluminum stub coated with carbon conductivity tape sample
holder and put into SEM (FEI, INSPCT-F50, Germany). The operating conditions used to observe the SEM image
were 20 kV, 16 mm working distance, more than 5,000x magnification, 20 μm scale and vacuum pressure
(Birhanu et al. 2020).
Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) surface area analyzer: A 0.4 g of sample was weighed and added into the prep-
aration unit of the surface analyzer (Horiba 96000 series) where the sample was subjected to a temperature of
150 °C for 2 h to remove (degas) the moisture content. The methods and procedures employed for measuring
BET surface area were followed and adopted by many authors (Naderi 2015). Based on the single nitrogen
molecule surface area and the nitrogen adsorbed–desorbed of the multipoint data, the surface area of the
sample was determined.
Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR): Functional groups of an activated banana peel bio-adsorbent
were analyzed using FTIR (Thermo Scientific iS50 ABX) instrument equipped with ATR (attenuated total reflec-
tion) accessory, Potassium bromide (KBr) beam splitter and detector. After the background was taken, the
samples were placed on the sample holder and an IR light source was applied to collect data at 32 resolution
and 16 scans. The infrared solution was analyzed in the range of 4,000 and 400 cm
1 wavenumber (Turki
et al. 2018).
Thermal gravimetric analyses (TGAs): 20 g of an activated banana peel bio-adsorbent sample was weighed and
placed into a ceramic sample holder separately. The samples were then put into a temperature-controlled TGA
cell (DTG-60H) and were set to decompose from ambient temperature to 800 °C. The percentage of mass loss as
function temperature was recorded and analyzed (Saadatkhah et al. 2020).

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 Water Practice & Technology Vol 18 No 4, 951

2.2.4. Batch adsorption experimental and optimization of adsorption processes

Batch adsorption experiments: this was carried out to achieve the optimum operating conditions for the removal
of the selected dye from the aqueous solution (Banerjee et al. 2013). A reactive blue dye 19 (C22H16N2Na2O11S3,
99% pure) solution with a concentration of 1,000 mg/L was prepared as a stock solution. To know the maximum
wavelength absorbency of reactive blue dye, 25 mg/L of the dye solution was taken and scanned using a UV–Vis
spectrophotometer (DR 5000). The maximum wavelength (λ-max) and absorbance of the dye were taken and
scanned from 300 to 700 nm using a UV/VIS spectrometer and it was found at 660 nm. Also, a series of batch
experiments were made by diluting this solution. Reactive blue dye solutions with concentrations ranging from
0 to 100 mg/L were prepared by dilution of the stock solution.
A 0.1 M of NaOH and HCl solutions were used to adjust the pH of the adsorption process as was the case
required. A cylindrical flask was used to allow the adsorption process at a fixed mechanical stirring of
300 rpm. The filtrate was filtered through Whatman filter paper and analyzed for residual concentration. The
response (removal efficiency) was determined using Equation (1). The concentrations of dye after the adsorption
process were determined by UV-spectroscopy. The filtrate from each experiment was analyzed using UV-spec-
trometer and the residual concentrations were read against calibrated values (Harsha Hebbar et al. 2018).

(C0
Cf )
R (%) ¼ 100 (1)
C0

where R is the percentage removal (amount adsorbed) in %, C0 is the initial dye concentration, mg/L and Cf is the
final dye concentration, mg/L.
The optimization and interaction effects of the variables on the adsorption processes were studied using
response surface methodology followed by central composite design (RSM-CCD).
Individual parameter effect: The influence of each parameter on the dye adsorption uptake capacity of an acid-
activated banana peel bio-adsorbent was studied based on one variable at a time approach. Therefore, adsorption
time ranging from 20 to 140 min, pH from 1 to 7, the adsorbent dose from 1.0 to 4.0 g/L, and initial dye concen-
tration from 20 to 80 mg/L have been considered. The parameters considered along the level studied are shown
in Table 2.

Table 2 | Parameters and levels to study individual effects

Factors Unit Level

Adsorption time min 20 40 60 80 100 120 140

pH – 1.0 2.0 3.0 4.0 5.0 6.0 7
Adsorbent dose g/L 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5 4.0
Initial concentration mg/L 20 30 40 50 60 70 80

Interaction effects and model evaluation using RSM-CCD: To investigate the adsorption process other than indi-
vidual effects, consideration of the interactive effect of parameters on the process makes logical sense. The
interaction effect and optimization of parameters were performed using RSM. The levels of each parameter
for this study are given in Table 3.

Table 3 | Adsorption factors and corresponding levels for RSM-CCD experiments

Level

Factors Factor symbol Unit Lower Upper

Adsorption time A min 40 80

pH B – 2 4
Adsorbent dose C g/L 1.5 2.5
Initial concentration D mg/L 30 50

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 Water Practice & Technology Vol 18 No 4, 952

The RSM-CCD in Design Expert® software version 12.0 produced a total of 30 experiments based on the
empirical equation 2n þ 2n þ c. where c is the number of center point experiments and ‘n’ is the number of inde-
pendent parameters (Sadhukhan et al. 2016; Guo et al. 2021). Response surface regression for the design
response was analyzed by a quadratic model given by Equation (2) (Behboudi-Jobbehdar et al. 2013).

Y ¼ b þ a1 X1 þ a2 X2 þ a3 X3 þ a4 X4 þ b1 X1 X2 þ b2 X1 X3 þ b3 X1 X4 þ b4 X2 X3 þ b5 X2 X4 þ b6 X3 X4
(2)
þ c1 X21 þ c2 X22 þ c3 X23 þ c4 X24 þ j

where Y is the response variable, β is the intercept constant, α1–α4 are main linear effects constant, b1–b4 are
linear–linear coefficients, and c1–c4 are main quadratic effect coefficients, ξ is the error and X1–X4 are the inde-
pendent variables.

2.3. Adsorption kinetics and isotherm studies

2.3.1. Adsorption kinetics
The rate at which the adsorbate (dye) was adsorbed on the surface of the adsorbent (activated banana peel) was
studied using well-known kinetics models, namely pseudo-first-order and second-order kinetic models. These kin-
etics models show the efficacy of the adsorbent, indicating how fast or low it adsorbs the adsorbate. Kinetics is the
dynamic of the adsorption process that describes the rate at which the adsorbent adsorbs the dye molecules
(Saruchi & Kumar 2019; Shobier et al. 2020). To investigate the adsorption of dye on the adsorbent surface,
2 g/L of sample was added to 500 mL of dye solution with an initial concentration of 40 mg/L and pH of 3.0
in a 1,000-mL flask. The solution was stirred at 300 rpm using a mechanical stirrer at room temperature. The
adsorption process was examined at adsorption time of 10–160 min. Each filtrate from the adsorption was ana-
lyzed for trace concentration of dye. The dye concentration that remained after adsorption in the given time
interval was determined using spectroscopy at a wavelength of 660 nm (Khosravi et al. 2018; Bai et al. 2020;
Shobier et al. 2020). The amount of dye adsorbed with respect to time (qt) was calculated using Equation (3)
(Zhang et al. 2020). The kinetics data of the dye on the surface of the activated banana peel bio-adsorbent
samples were fitted to pseudo-first-order and pseudo-second-order kinetics models and the best fit was selected
based on the higher value of R 2 (Afolabi et al. 2020; Han et al. 2020).

(C0
Ct )
qt ¼ V (3)
m

where qt is the amount of adsorbate adsorbed at time t, mg/g, C0 and Ct are the initial concentration and the con-
centration of dye at time t in mg/L, respectively, V is the volume of the dye solution, L and m is the mass of the
adsorbent, g.
Similarly, the amount of adsorbate at equilibrium (qe) was calculated using Equation (4)

(C0
Ce )  V
qe ¼ (4)
m

where Ce is the dye concentration at equilibrium in mg/L. For the 2 g/L of mass adsorbent used, pH of 3.0 and
dye concentration of 40 mg/L, to get an equilibrium concentration 4 h was used to guarantee equilibrium
attained where the concentration no longer varies thereafter. The pseudo-first-order kinetics model is given by
Equation (5).

dqt
¼ K1 (qe
qt ) (5)
dt

where qe is the adsorption capacity at equilibrium, mg/L, K1 is the pseudo-first-order rate constant, min
1 and t is
the adsorption time in min. Integration of Equation (5) and taking boundary conditions of t ¼ 0 to t ¼ t and qt ¼ 0
to qt ¼ qt, the pseudo-first-order kinetics are then given by Equation (6).

K1
log (qe
qt ) ¼ log (qe )
t (6)
2:303

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 Water Practice & Technology Vol 18 No 4, 953

The pseudo-second-order kinetics model similarly is expressed as Equation (7) and when integrated it is
Equation (8).

dqt
¼ K2 (qe
qt )2 (7)
dt
1 1
¼ þ K2 t (8)
(qe
qt ) qe

Where K2 is the pseudo-second-order adsorption rate constant, g(mg)
1min
1.

2.3.2. Adsorption isotherm

Isotherm models show the equilibrium amount of adsorbate available in the solution and the amount of adsor-
bate available on the surface of adsorbent. Langmuir and Freundlich are the most robust models used to
mathematically predict equilibrium adsorption processes. Adsorption isotherm experiments were conducted by
adding 2 g/L of adsorbent to 500 mL of different initial concentrations of 25, 45, 65, 85, 105 and 125 mg/L of
the adsorbate to be adsorbed, with pH of 3.0 and the adsorption process was agitated by a mechanical stirrer
for 4 h of time. After each adsorption was finished, the adsorbent was filtered, the equilibrium concentrations
were determined using UV-spectroscopy and the corresponding amount of adsorbate at equilibrium (qe) was
calculated.
The linear form of the Langmuir isotherm model is given as Equation (9).
Ce 1 Ce
¼ þ (9)
qe qmax KL qmax

where Ce is the adsorbate concentration at equilibrium in mL/L, qe is the amount of sorbate at equilibrium per
unit mass of sorbent in mg/g, qmax is the complete monolayer sorption capacity at equilibrium in mg/g and KL is
the Langmuir equilibrium constant in L/mg. The experimental data were linearly regressed as Ce/qe versus Ce,
from which the Langmuir constants qmax and KL were determined from the slope and intercept, respectively.
Moreover, the experimental data were also fitted to the Freundlich isotherm model which is expressed by
Equation (10).
 
1
ln (qe ) ¼ ln (Ce ) þ ln (KF ) (10)
n

where KF is the Freundlich constant related to adsorption capacity, and n is the Freundlich constant related to
adsorption intensity. The Freundlich constants were determined using the straight-line plot of ln(qe) versus
ln(Ce) from which n was found from the slope and KF from the intercept.

2.4. Reusability test of the activated banana peel bio-adsorbent

Several adsorption and desorption processes had been made to test the reusability of the activated banana peel
bio-adsorbent over the adsorption of dye molecules (Dahiru et al. 2018). A 2 g/L of the adsorbent was allowed to
adsorb 40 mg/L of dye molecules at ambient temperature for 4 h and shacked at 500 rpm. The precipitate was
added to 500 mL of 0.1 M NaOH solution and shacked for 12 h and then washed several times using distilled
water until the pH became neutral. The supernatant solution was analyzed and the removal capacity was
determined. The adsorption–desorption process was repeated 10 times until the capacity of the adsorbent fell
below 50%.

3. RESULT AND DISCUSSIONS

3.1. Removal efficiency of adsorbent
The activated banana peel bio-adsorbent so produced was allowed to adsorb a solution of dye. The removal effi-
ciency of the bio-adsorbent with respect to sulfuric acid concentration, activation temperature and the activation
time is shown in Figure 1(a)–1(c). From Figure 1(a), the removal efficiency increases at a fast rate from 65 to 88%
when the acid concentration increases from 0.5 to 1.5 M. A further increment of acid concentration to 2.5 M was
found to cause the removal efficiency of the activated banana peel bio-adsorbent to decline to 76%. The result
revealed that acid concentration has two-fold implications on the efficiency of the adsorbent. At relatively low

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 Water Practice & Technology Vol 18 No 4, 954

Figure 1 | Removal efficiency of banana peel bio-adsorbent as a function of acid concentration (a), as a function of activation
temperature (b), and as a function of activation time (c).

concentrations, the removal efficiency increases which implies the good preparedness of the sample and the
availability of more surface area for the accommodation of dye molecules. It seems that after 1.5 M the acid
decomposed the amorphous part of the cellulose in the banana peel and causes a porous structure to be devel-
oped. The decline of removal efficiency at elevated acid concentration may attribute to the degradation of the
main structure and loss of porosity for dye molecules to be adsorbed on. A similar result can be seen in the
study by Ali et al. (2016) where hydrochloric acid was used to activate banana peel for the removal of hexavalent
chromium from an aqueous solution.
As can be seen Figure 1(b), at a fixed acid concentration of 1.5 M and 3 h of activation time, the removal effi-
ciency of the adsorbent increased with the activation temperature. In a similar pattern, the removal efficiency of
the adsorbent as a function of activation time at an acid concentration of 1.5 M and at an activation temperature
of 70 °C is depicted in Figure 1(c). It increased rapidly from 56.2 to 89% when the activation time changed from 1
to 3 h. However, the efficiency does not change substantially despite the time increasing to 5 h. As illustrated in
the graph, an activation time of 3 h seems an ideal operating condition along the optimum acid concentration and
activation temperature. As a result, it appears on the surface that acid concentration of 1.5 M, activation temp-
erature of 70 °C and activation time of 3 h are favorable conditions to get an activated banana peel that fulfills
the requirements of the adsorbent.

3.2. Characteristics of an activated banana peel bio-adsorbent

3.2.1. Proximate analyses
The moisture content, volatile matter, ash and fixed carbon content of the raw banana peels and activated banana
peel bio-adsorbent are shown in Table 4. The parameters of the bio-adsorbent improved owing to the preparation
and activation processes as compared to the raw banana peel. According to the study by Hammouda & Mihoubi

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 Water Practice & Technology Vol 18 No 4, 955

Table 4 | Proximate analyses

Result (%)

S/N Parameter Raw Activated

1 Moisture content 9.8 4.5

2 Volatile content 19.1 17.7
3 Ash content 6.4 5.2
4 Fixed carbon 64.7 72.6

and Kramarenko et al., the moisture content of the prepared raw banana peel is between 7 and 10% and that of
activated is about 5–7% (Hammouda & Mihoubi 2014; Kramarenko et al. 2016).

3.2.2. Point of zero charge (pHpzc) analysis

A plot of final pH values against the initial pH value (pHi) is presented in Figure 2. From the plotted curve, the
significance of these pH values is that a given adsorbent surface will have a positive charge at solution pH values
less than the pHpzc and thus can be used to absorb anion adsorbates. On the other hand, the surface has a nega-
tive charge at a solution pH value greater than the pHpzc and is suitable to adsorb cations on its surface. The
pHpzc is identified and seen that the pHpzc of the banana peel surface was found to be 4.67. At pH less than
4.67, the bio-sorbent is positively charged because Hþ ions reside on the surface. At pH greater than 4.67, the
bio-sorbent is negatively charged because Hþ ions enter a high-pH solution, resulting in a negatively charged
(Hþ poor) surface. An approximated result was reported for the adsorption of ionic reactive dyes over Alfa
powder from the leaf of Stippa tenacissim at a lower pH value and that adsorption capacity increased with
decreasing pH of the solution (Palma et al. 2011).

Figure 2 | Point zero charge (pHpzc) of activated banana peel bio-adsorbent.

3.2.3. SEM analysis

The morphology of raw banana peel and activated banana peel bio-adsorbent was analyzed with SEM and the
image is depicted in Figure 3(a) and 3(b). It unveiled the distinction of the images in terms of porosity and surface
morphologies. Due to preparations and activation processes, the activated banana peel bio-adsorbent appears to
have more surface and porosity. A more or less similar result can be seen from the previous study (Ramutshatsha-
makhwedzha et al. 2022) in which case the activated adsorbent assumed much more surface.

3.2.4. BET analyses

Surface area is a paramount characteristic of adsorbents as the adsorption process is a surface phenomenon. As is
the case with all adsorbents, the activated banana peel produced by the physical and chemical processes is

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 Water Practice & Technology Vol 18 No 4, 956

Figure 3 | SEM results of raw banana peel (a) and activated banana peel (b).

assumed to have enough surface to qualify for dye adsorption. The BET results showed that surface areas of the
raw banana peel and activated banana peel bio-adsorbent to be 75 and 432 m2/g, respectively. Sinto et al.
reported surface area of activated banana peels to be 426 m2/g using different techniques (Sinto et al. 2018).

3.2.5. FTIR analyses

The FTIR spectra of raw and activated banana peels are presented in Figure 4. It can be seen from the spectra that
there are some functional groups in both samples at 3,684.94; 3,619.38; 1,117.03; 1,005.01; 912.49; 672.95 and
529.33 wavenumbers (cm
1). The weak peak at 3,684.94 and 3,619.38 wavenumbers (cm
1) may show the exist-
ence of moisture content, probably OH group. The peak at 1,117.03 wavenumber (cm
1) may be attributed to the
presence of C–O. It can be assumed that it is due to the fluoro compound, specifically the C–F stretching group at
the peak 1,005.01. Perhaps, the peaks at 672.95 and 529.33 indicate the presence of halo compounds in the
sample. Moreover, the change of peak(s) from strong to weak peak patterns might imply that compounds such
as water have been removed completely or partially during the activation process. The two spectra are similar
in their pattern and are different in the quantity of the functional groups available. As can be seen from the
work of Matei et al., the spectra of the activated banana peel are in line with the spectra of these results
(Matei et al. 2021).

Figure 4 | FTIR spectra of raw and activated banana peels.

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3.2.6. TGA of raw banana peel and activated banana peel bio-adsorbent
The TGAs of both raw and activated banana peels have been conducted to analyze the effect of temperature on
the sample under oxidized conditions. The result is introduced in Figure 5, the activated banana peel bio-adsor-
bent started to decompose after 300 °C and the raw sample at 150 °C. The mass loss between 150 and 400 °C
might be due to the loss of bounded water and some other impurities. The sharp decline of both curves
beyond 400 °C may attribute to the decomposition of the sample into other smaller components such as
carbon dioxide.

Figure 5 | Percentage of mass loss of raw and activated banana peels with temperature.

3.3. Parameter effects and optimizations

3.3.1. Individual parameter effects on the efficiency of adsorption
The levels of the main adsorption parameters such as adsorption time, pH, adsorbent dose and initial dye con-
centration were scoped based on the effects they have on the adsorption process following the one-factor-at-a-
time method. To scrutinize the adsorption of dye on the surface of the activated banana peel bio-adsorbent,
adsorption time in the range of 20–140 min, pH from 1.0 to 7.0, adsorbent dose from 1 to 4 g/L and initial
dye concentration from 20 to 80 mg/L were considered and the effect each parameter is plotted in
Figure 6(a)–6(d).
Effect of adsorption time: The graph of removal efficiency rapidly increased from 48.6 to 87.6% as the adsorp-
tion time varied from 20 to 60 min at a fixed pH of 3, adsorbent dose of 2 g/L and initial dye concentration of
40 mg/L as depicted in Figure 6(a). When the adsorption time further increased to 140 min with the interval
shown, the removal efficiency of the bio-adsorbent for dye adsorbate slightly increases and shortly after that
tends to remain almost constant at 92%. The increment of removal efficiency as a function of time implies
that adsorption requires time to take place. According to Zheng et al. (2021) study, the adsorption mass transfer
phenomenon involves three main steps: external diffusion, internal diffusion, and attachment to the active site. As
a result, it demands a certain period to adsorb a given amount of adsorbate and of course until all the surface
available is taken up or equilibrium is attained. Dwivedi et al. (2016) discussed 90 min to remove about 84%
of cyanide contaminant. The adsorption time sufficient to remove most of the adsorbate may be short or long
depending on the type of adsorbent and adsorbate the behavior of adsorption (Deng et al. 2014).
Effect of pH: The dyes are complex organic compounds with different functional groups and unsaturated bonds,
so they show different levels of ionization at different pHs. In this regard, the biosorption of reactive blue dye
solutions was carried out by varying pH of 1–7, with bio-adsorbent dose, initial dye concentration and adsorption
time kept constant at 2 g/L, 40 mg/L and 60 min, respectively, and presented in Figure 6(b). The removal capacity
of the adsorbent below pH of 3 was found to be around 90% and sharply falls all the way down to 40% as the pH
increases to 7. It can be deduced that the solution pH was directly related to the availability of positively charged
active sites on the surface of the bio-sorbent to bind with the dye molecules. Since the point zero charge of this
particular adsorbent surface is 4.7, it assumes a positively charged surface below a pH of 4.7, as a consequence,

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Figure 6 | Effect of adsorption time (a), pH (b), adsorbent dose (c), and dye concentration (d) on percentage of removal
efficiency.

adsorption of the anionic dye molecules becomes more favorable at low pH than high ones. The positive ions
(Hþ) provide an electrostatic attraction between the adsorbent surface and the dye molecules leading to maxi-
mum adsorption. Some studies reported that the amount of dye uptake decreases with increasing the pH
solutions from 2.5 up to 6 (Fernandes et al. 2008; Elkady et al. 2011; Gulnaz et al. 2011).
Effect of adsorbent dose: Adsorbent dose is among the essential parameters that strongly affect the adsorption
process as observed in Figure 6(c). The removal efficiency of the adsorbent increases from 64.4 to 91.5% as the
adsorbent dose increases from 1 to 2 g/L and appears almost constant thereafter. For a given dye concentration of
40 mg/L, it seems at high doses (say 3 g/L and above) the amount of adsorbate molecules available are already
taken and the removal efficiency tends to remain constant.
Effect of initial dye concentration: The removal efficiency of the activated banana peel bio-adsorbent as a func-
tion of initial dye concentration of 20–80 mg/L at a fixed adsorption time of 60 min, pH of 3 and adsorbent dose
of 2 g/L is demonstrated in Figure 6(d). As can be observed from the graph, the removal efficiency lightly changes
from 92.2 to 88.2% as the initial dye concentration varies from 20 to 40 mg/L. when the initial dye concentration
increases to 80 mg/L, however, the removal efficiency sharply declines to 37.4%. It is apparent that the dye’s
initial concentration radically affects the removal efficiency for a given adsorbent of 2 g/L. Increasing the dye
concentration (molecules) at this fixed adsorbent amount would mean a small surface area for adsorption.

3.3.2. Interaction effect of adsorption parameters

Analysis of variance (ANOVA) and regression model: In the study, the p 2 and R 2 values are found to be less than
0.0005 and 0.987, respectively. This implies that the quadratic model is best fitted to the experimental data. The
feasibility and suitability of the model were analyzed by ANOVA and shown in Table 5. The quadratic equation
that predicts the removal efficiency of the activated bio-adsorbent (RE%) as a function of adsorption time

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Table 5 | Response surface quadratic model of ANOVA for MB removal

Source Sum of squares df Square mean F-value P-value Prob. . F

Model 6,924.61 14 494.61 82.15 ,0.0001 Significant

A 2,527.65 1 2,527.65 419.83 ,0.0001
B 707.42 1 707.42 117.50 ,0.0001
C 216.60 1 216.60 35.98 ,0.0001
D 2,029.52 1 2,029.52 337.10 ,0.0001
AB 14.63 1 14.63 2.43 0.0139
AC 52.20 1 52.20 8.67 0.0100
AD 38.75 1 38.75 6.44 0.0228
BC 16.20 1 16.20 2.69 0.1217
BD 11.73 1 11.73 1.95 0.1831
CD 3.71 1 3.71 0.6155 0.4449
A2 842.02 1 842.02 139.86 ,0.0001
2
B 348.72 1 348.72 57.92 ,0.0001
C2 96.75 1 96.75 16.07 0.0011
2
D 453.38 1 453.38 75.30 ,0.0001
Residual 90.31 15 6.02
Lack of Fit 90.24 10 9.02 4.24 0.0532 Not significant
Pure error 0.0733 5 0.0147

(A-min), pH (B), adsorbent dose(C-g/L), and initial dye concentration (D-mg/L) is given as Equation (11):

RE(%) ¼ 25:1554 þ 0:6339  A þ 13:3566  B þ 88:1102  C þ 0:1560  D

0:0016  AB
0:0277  AC þ 0:0150  AD þ 2:6460  BC þ 0:2230  BD þ 0:0:3822  CD (11)

0:0048  A
5:3104  B
33:1485  C
0:0418  D
2 2 2 2

The statistical analyses are evident that the actual (experimental) and the model predicted values of the
removal efficiencies are alike to an acceptable extent in which case the R 2, adjusted R 2, and predicted R 2 was
found to be 0.987, 0.975, and 0.926, respectively. The predicted and actual values of the removal efficiency are
plotted in Figure 7.

Figure 7 | Actual versus model predicted values fitting.

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 Water Practice & Technology Vol 18 No 4, 960

Interaction effect: The effect of parameters is two-fold; they definitely affect the adsorption process, and one
variable affects the others. Parameter interaction is the epicenter of processes that determines the extent to
which the processes have a sound result. RSM provides a pair of parameters effect at once in terms of surface
plot for easy response visualization. The effects of adsorption time and pH, adsorption time and adsorbent
dose, adsorption time and initial dye concentration, pH and adsorbent dose, pH and initial dye concentration,
and adsorbent dose and initial dye concentration on the removal efficiency of bio-adsorbent are discussed and
presented in Figure 8(a)–8(f), respectively.

Figure 8 | Interaction effects of parameters on removal efficiency.

The interaction of the effect of adsorption time and pH on the removal efficiency of the bio-adsorbent at a
given adsorbent dose of 2 g/L and initial dye concentration of 40 mg/L is illustrated in Figure 8(a). It can be
seen from the graph that the removal efficiency rapidly increases from 62.8 to 91.8% as the adsorption time
increases from 40 to 66 min and pH decreases from 4 to 2.8. Thereafter, the removal efficiency slowly increases
as adsorption time increases to 80 min and pH decreases to 2. The increment of removal efficiency at these
given operating conditions may attribute to a favorable condition that the adsorption time and pH conduce
for mass transfer to take place rapidly. Moreover, it seems that the activated bio-adsorbent provided relatively
enough surface area to adsorb the dye molecules at first and then tends to approach equilibrium where the
adsorption process is about to stop. The removal efficiency, thus, was found to be almost constant (Padmavathy
et al. 2016).
Likewise, Figure 8(b) demonstrates removal efficiency as a function of adsorption time and adsorbent dose at
pH of 3 and 40 mg/L of initial dye concentration. It reveals the increment of the removal efficiency from 64.1 to
90.8% when the adsorption time varied from 40 to 64 min and the adsorbent dose varied from 1.5 to 2.1 g/L. Up
next, the removal efficiency slightly increases to 92.5% despite the adsorption time and adsorbent dose increases
to 80 min and 2.5 g/L, respectively.
The increase in removal efficiency with both adsorbent dose and adsorption time is due to the availability of
surface area as the adsorbent amount increases and sufficiently enough time for adsorption (Manoj et al. 2015).

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Figure 8(c) clearly depicted how the removal efficiency of the activated bio-adsorbent varies with the variation
of adsorption time and initial dye concentration at pH 3 and 2 g/L of adsorbent dose. The graph unfolds the
increment of the removal efficiency at a considerable rate from 58 to 91.8% when the adsorption time
increases from 40 to 64 min and the initial dye concentration decreases from 60 to 38 mg/L. As the model pre-
dicted, the removal efficiency shows a slow increase to 96.6% as adsorption time further varied to 80 min and
the initial concentration decreased to 30 mg/L. It appears that initial dye concentration played a significant
role in the removal efficiency. High efficiency at low concentrations would mean that the activated bio-adsor-
bent assumed more room for adsorption relative to the molecules of dye. On the other hand, higher dye
concentration outnumbers the available surface and causes the removal efficiency to decline sharply
(Padmavathy et al. 2016).
Figure 8(d) described the surface plots of response removal efficiency of dye adsorption process by the acti-
vated bio-adsorbent drawn with the variable’s pH and adsorbent dose at a constant adsorption time of 60 min
and initial dye concentration of 40 mg/L. It can clearly be observed from the graphs that the removal effi-
ciency of the bio-adsorbent in terms of adsorbing dye molecules has an increment pattern with the
adsorbent dose and a decrement pattern with pH. As such, when the adsorbent amount varied from 1.5
to 2 g/L and the pH changed from 4 to 2.8, the efficiency was found to change from 73.8 to 90% at a notice-
able rate. It, however, remains constant, give or take, even though the adsorbent increases to 2.5 and pH
further decreases to 2. It can thus be concluded that the cumulative effect of both variables to have a
sound removal efficiency is in the vicinity of 2 g/L of adsorbent dose and pH of 3 for a given initial dye con-
centration of 40 mg/L for an adsorption time of 60 min. It also seems that the increase of the adsorbent
amount allows more room for the adsorption of dye molecules till the process tends toward equilibrium.
At a high-pH dye solution, the adsorption competes with other molecules which causes the efficiency of
dye removal to decline rapidly.
The interaction effect of pH and initial concentration on the removal efficiency of the activated bio-adsor-
bent in the event of dye molecules adsorption is given in Figure 8(e). As would be expected, the removal
efficiency is more pronouncedly dependent on the dye concentration for a constant adsorption time of
60 min and an adsorbent dose of 2 g/L. The efficiency was found to go up to 94% when the dye concen-
tration was reduced to 30 mg/L. While the adsorbent amount is kept at 2 g/L, it is crystal clear that the
removal efficiency declines with concentration and the reverse holds true. Apparently, since adsorption is
a surface phenomenon, higher dye concentration would outnumber the available surface present in the
2 g/L adsorbent and as consequence, some dye molecules remain adsorbed or not removed from the syn-
thetic solution. It is, therefore, imperative that the dye concentration should be proportional to the
adsorbent dose which in this case is 2 g/L to 40 mg/L to get about 90% of the dye removed, putting
other factors aside.
Figure 8(c) presented the removal efficiency of activated bio-adsorbent concerning adsorbent dose and
initial dye concentration at a fixed adsorption time of 60 min and pH of 3. The model equation pretty
well predicts the removal efficiency to increase from 70 to 94% based on the variation of adsorbent
dose from 1.5 to 2.0 and initial dye concentration from 50 to 30 mg/L. As is so often the case, the removal
efficiency tends to increase with the adsorbent dose and decrease with the dye’s initial concentration
(Al-senani & Al-fawzan 2018). All told, the removal efficiency of activated bio-adsorbent used to adsorb
synthetic dye solution was found to be dependent on the four parameters, namely adsorption time, pH,
adsorbent dose and initial dye concentration. On top of that, adsorption time and adsorbent dose were
found to have a positive effect, and pH and initial dye concentration negative effect on the removal effi-
ciency. It appears on the surface that 90% or so of the dye molecules can be removed at favorable
operating conditions of the variables without some extended levels considered (Mohan et al. 2006;
Padmavathy et al. 2016).
Parameter optimization: the indication of the need for optimization that compromises level parameters and
yields an acceptable level of removal efficiency. The optimization gives no lower nor higher but in-between
values of variables and responses based on the criteria set. The optimum operating conditions of the dye adsorp-
tion process were found to be an adsorption time of 60 min, pH of 3, an adsorbent dose of 2 g/L, and an initial
dye concentration of 40 mg/L from the RSM-CCD numerical optimization. The optimum operating condition
found was validated with triplicated experimental data and the deviation between the experimental result and
that of the model predicted was 1.3%.

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3.4. Adsorption mechanisms

3.4.1. Adsorption kinetics
The kinetics of dye molecules’ adsorption on bio-adsorbent was examined by pseudo-first-order and
pseudo-second-order kinetic models. The data obtained were regressed and fitted to pseudo-first-order and
pseudo-second-order kinetic models and are shown in Figure 9(a) and 9(b), respectively. The models’ fitness
with coefficients of determination (R 2) was found to be 0.739 and 0.978, respectively. Comparing the two
regressions, the adsorption of dye molecules on the surface of the activated bio-adsorbent prepared from
banana peel seems to follow the pseudo-second-order kinetics model.

Figure 9 | Pseudo-first-order and pseudo-second-order kinetic data fitting.

3.4.2. Adsorption isotherms

The two well-known isotherm models, Langmuir and Freundlich adsorption isotherm models were used to study
the adsorption mechanism. The coefficient of determination (R 2) was used to indicate the isotherm model that
best fits with experimental data. The R 2 values and the model parameters or coefficients are presented in
Table 6. The adsorption behavior of the dye molecules on bio-adsorbent is best described mathematically
using the Langmuir isotherm model since the R 2 value is 0.9996. Furthermore, it can be inferred that the dye
molecules formed a monolayer on the surface of the adsorbent.

Table 6 | Summary of adsorption mechanisms

Pseudo-first-order kinetics Pseudo-second-order kinetics

Adsorbent qe (mg/g) K1 (min
1) R2 qe (mg/g) K2 (g(mg)
1min
1) R2

35.4 0.005 0.7398 35.4 0.0006 0.9775

Langmuir isotherm parameters Freundlich isotherm parameters

Activated banana peel qm (mg/g) KL (L/mg) R2 KF (mg/g) n R2

38 0.993 0.9996 24.96 10.11 0.8916

3.5. Reusability of the activated banana peel bio-adsorbent

The performance of the adsorbent with regard to the number of times it can be used to absorb dye molecules is
shown in Figure 10. The removal efficiency of adsorbent declined from 93.5% to 48% when it was used at first
and for the sixth time following the adsorption–adsorption processes. The potential reuse of activated banana
peels is also studied previously by many authors (Pathak et al. 2016). It can be concluded that the activated
banana peel bio-adsorbent has a good regeneration capacity to use once more.

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 Water Practice & Technology Vol 18 No 4, 963

Figure 10 | Regeneration rate of activated banana peel bio-adsorbent.

4. CONCLUSION
This study looked into the bio-adsorption of reactive blue dye onto the activated banana peel. Thermal and chemi-
cal surface modifications were done to the bio-adsorbent to boost its ability to absorb the anionic dye, reactive
blue. With the surface modification, the change in the surface charges of adsorbent materials was aimed. The
characterization methods of the activated banana peel such as proximate analysis, BET, TGA, SEM, XRD,
and FTIR gave reliable and guaranteed results for the adsorption of dye from the aqueous solution or textile efflu-
ent. The activated banana peel bio-adsorbent was allowed to adsorb the dye molecules at different operating
conditions. The operating conditions were optimized and this optimum condition can remove most of the dye
molecules from the synthetic solution. From the kinetics and isotherm model study, it can be concluded that
the rate at which the dye molecules are being adsorbed and the behavior of adsorption follow pseudo-second-
order and Langmuir isotherm models. The regeneration test suggested that the activated banana peel bio-adsor-
bent can be used four times and repeated before its removal performance falls ,80%. To sum it up, activated
banana peels can be a good candidate for adsorbent material to mitigate wastewater problems to a considerable
extent. Using banana peel as a means to treat wastewater has two-fold advantages: (1) turning a waste material
into a useful adsorbent and (2) it is relatively cheap and easy to prepare.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors would like to thank the Department of Chemical Engineering, College of Food and Chemical Engin-
eering, Wollo University, Kombolcha Institute of Technology, Kombolcha, Ethiopia; Bahir Dar University, Bahir
Dar, Ethiopia; and Addis Ababa Science Technology University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia for their collaboration
during the laboratory work.

AUTHOR CONTRIBUTIONS
M.K. conceptualized the study, prepared the methodology, did formal analysis, investigated the study, collected
resources, and did data curation; T.S. did software analysis, validated the study, wrote and prepared the original
draft; B.G. wrote, reviewed and edited the article, T.T. visualized and supervised the study. All authors have read
and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

DATA AVAILABILITY STATEMENT

All relevant data are included in the paper or its Supplementary Information.

CONFLICT OF INTEREST
The authors declare there is no conflict.

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 Water Practice & Technology Vol 18 No 4, 964

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First received 23 February 2023; accepted in revised form 11 March 2023. Available online 27 March 2023

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