Utilization of modified silk cotton hull waste as an adsorbent for the removal of textile dye (reactive blue MR) from aqueous solution.

Carbon prepared from silk cotton hull was used to remove a textile dye (reactive blue MR) from aqueous solution by an adsorption technique under varying conditions of agitation time, dye concentration, adsorbent dose and pH. Adsorption depended on solution pH, dye concentration, carbon concentration and contact time. Equilibrium was attained with in 60 min. Adsorption followed both Langmuir and Freundlich isotherm models. The adsorption capacity was found to be 12.9 mg/g at an initial pH of 2+/-0.2 for the particle size of 125-250 microm at room temperature (30+/-2 degrees C).

Activated carbon from industrial solid waste as an adsorbent for the removal of Rhodamine-B from aqueous solution: kinetic and equilibrium studies.

The activated carbon was prepared using industrial solid waste called sago waste and physico-chemical properties of carbon were carried out to explore adsorption process. The effectiveness of carbon prepared from sago waste in adsorbing Rhodamine-B from aqueous solution has been studied as a function of agitation time, adsorbent dosage, initial dye concentration, pH and desorption. Adsorption equilibrium studies were carried out in order to optimize the experimental conditions. The adsorption of Rhodamine-B onto carbon followed second order kinetic model. Adsorption data were modeled using both Langmuir and Freundlich classical adsorption isotherms. The adsorption capacity Q0 was 16.12 mg g(-1) at initial pH 5.7 for the particle size 125-250 microm. The equilibrium time was found to be 150 min for 10, 20 mg l(-1) and 210 min for 30, 40 mg l(-1) dye concentrations, respectively. A maximum removal of 91% was obtained at natural pH 5.7 for an adsorbent dose of 100mg/50 ml of 10 mg l(-1) dye concentration and 100% removal was obtained when the pH was increased to 7 for an adsorbent dose of 275 mg/50 ml of 20 mg l(-1) dye concentration. Desorption studies were carried out in water medium by varying the pH from 2 to 10. Desorption studies were performed with dilute HCl and show that ion exchange is predominant dye adsorption mechanism. This adsorbent was found to be both effective and economically viable.

Utilization of various agricultural wastes for activated carbon preparation and application for the removal of dyes and metal ions from aqueous solutions.

Activated carbons were prepared from the agricultural solid wastes, silk cotton hull, coconut tree sawdust, sago waste, maize cob and banana pith and used to eliminate heavy metals and dyes from aqueous solution. Adsorption of all dyes and metal ions required a very short time and gave quantitative removal. Experimental results show all carbons were effective for the removal of pollutants from water. Since all agricultural solid wastes used in this investigation are freely, abundantly and locally available, the resulting carbons are expected to be economically viable for wastewater treatment.