Waste Plant Material as a Potential Adsorbent of a Selected Azo Dye

What is it about?

This paper discusses the adsorption of Direct Orange 26 azo dye on sunflower husk – an agricultural waste product. During the study, sorption kinetics and equilibrium as well as sorption capacity of the husk were investigated. The adsorption kinetics were analysed using pseudo-first and pseudo-second order equations, which indicated a chemical sorption mechanism. The sorption equilibrium was approximated with the two-parameter Freundlich and Langmuir equations and the three-parameter Redlich-Peterson equation. The main experiments were carried out in a laboratory adsorption column under different process conditions. The experimental data were interpreted with the Thomas model, based on the volumetric flow rate, initial composition of the feed solution and mass of the adsorbent. The results of modelling the adsorption equilibrium, adsorption kinetics and adsorption dynamics were evaluated statistically.

Featured Image

Why is it important?

This work examines the possibility of removing Direct Orange 26 azo dye from water with the help of waste sunflower husk, which had been previously modified to improve the process performance. Sorption kinetics and equilibrium were investigated in a batch experiments, and dynamics in a laboratory adsorption column via adjusting process parameters such as the initial dye concentration, volumetric flow rate of the feed solution and bed height. The resulting breakthrough curves were used to model the process mathematically with the Thomas equation.

Perspectives