Title: An equilibrium and kinetic study for the removal of reactive red M5B using phosphoric acid treated activated carbon

Authors: K. Senthamil Selvan; P. Meena Sundari; S. Madhavan; M. Palanivel; R. Jayakumar

Addresses: Department of Chemistry, Jansons Institute of Technology, Coimbatore, Tamilnadu-641057, India ' Department of Chemistry, Jansons Institute of Technology, Coimbatore, Tamilnadu-641057, India ' PSG Hospitals, Coimbatore, Tamilnadu-641004, India ' Department of Environmental Sciences, PSG College of Arts and Science, Coimbatore, Tamilnadu-641014, India ' MEDOPHARM Pvt. Ltd., Malur, Industrial area, Kolar District, Karnataka-563160, India

Abstract: The objective of the study is to develop an adsorbent which is abundant with economical and environmental friendly characteristics to remove reactive dye from its aqueous solution. The municipal solid waste modified by H₃PO₄ activated carbon (MSWAC) was prepared and characterised. The adsorption capacity of the activated carbon was tested towards reactive red M5B (RR), a representative of industrial effluent at varied operational conditions by using batch method. Langmuir, Freundlich and Temkin adsorption isotherm models were applied to describe the characteristics of adsorption behaviour. Kinetic data were fitted to pseudo-first-order, pseudo-second-order and intra-particle diffusion models. The virgin characteristics of MSWAC were studied using BET surface area, scanning electron microscope (SEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) studies. The result indicated that MSWAC as a low cost adsorbent and it can be effectively used for treating textile industry effluent.

Keywords: waste management; municipal solid waste; MSW; isotherm studies; kinetic studies; adsorption; activated carbon.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEWM.2020.108061

International Journal of Environment and Waste Management, 2020 Vol.26 No.1, pp.39 - 58

Accepted: 02 Jan 2019
Published online: 02 Jul 2020 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article