Abstract
Incense stick ash (ISA) has traces of toxic heavy metals which have an adverse effect on the environment. Every year, tonnes of ISA are disposed of in rivers and other water bodies which leads to water pollution and affects the natural water resources. ISA has several value-added minerals which could be modified or functionalized for environmental cleanup. Here, in the current research work, ISA was transformed into a flower-like noble porous material by mixing ISA and NaOH in a 1 : 1 ratio followed by calcination at 600°C for six hours in a muffle furnace. The developed material was analyzed by sophisticated instruments for the identification of the properties. The microscopic techniques revealed the micron-sized flower-like structure, while the XRD showed peaks at 30–33° which indicates the transformation of the calcite and silicate phases into new-phase mineral. FTIR also revealed bands in regions of 500–1200 cm−1 and new bands near 450 cm−1. EDS confirmed the presence of Na in the sintered product and the transformation of the ISA. Finally, the sintered product potential was assayed for the removal of methylene blue dye from wastewater using an adsorption mechanism. The removal efficiency of dye reached up to 70% within one hour only. It was found that the ISA sintered product has the potential to remove MB dye efficiently from wastewater and also reduce solid waste pollution. Microculture tetrazolium assay (MTT) and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) assays were performed to evaluate the cytotoxicity of the sintered incense stick ash product on RTG-2 cells. The sintered incense stick ash product induced cytotoxicity on RTG-2 cells in a dose-dependent manner. Sintered ISA products have the potential to remove methylene blue dye efficiently from wastewater and reduce solid waste pollution.