Concurrent adsorption of cationic and anionic dyes from environmental water on amine functionalized carbon

Abstract

Amine functionalized carbon (AFC) was synthesized from raw oil fly ash and later utilized it for simultaneous removal of methyl orange (MO) and rhodamine 6G (Rh6G) pollutant dyes from aqueous medium. AFC was analyzed through scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) surface area and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) to examine its morphology, porosity and structural characteristics, respectively. The effect of various process parameters like mixing time, pollutant concentration, adsorbent dose, initial solution pH, and temperature of the medium were investigated for dye removal process. The experimental findings showed that the percentage removal of Rh6G was higher than MO and both dyes showed synergism during the adsorption from binary dye solution. Pseudo-second-order model was most appropriate model for both dyes and thermodynamic parameters showed that the dyes removal process was endothermic in nature. Among various isotherm models, Hill and Toth isotherms best explain the adsorption of Rh6G and MO from binary dye solution.