Title: Application of silica gel factory waste for methyl orange dye removal

Authors: Suman Koner; Anjali Pal; Asok Adak

Addresses: Department of Civil Engineering, Jalpaiguri Government Engineering College, Jalpaiguri – 735102, India ' Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur – 721302, India ' Department of Civil Engineering, Bengal Engineering and Science University, Shibpur, Howrah – 711103, India

Abstract: The silica gel waste (SGW), after its collection from a local factory (at Kolkata, India), was modified with cationic surfactant and was utilised as an adsorbing media for the removal of methyl orange dye from aquatic environment. In batch mode, the effect of different dissolved salts, solution pH, and surfactant surface coverage on SGW were studied. Presence of electrolyte and solution pH was found to affect performance of the adsorbent. The adsorption capacity could be increased by increasing the surfactant surface coverage. In continuous mode, the SMSGW packed fixed column was run to find the height of adsorption zone, rate of movement of adsorption zone and its saturation at breakthrough. The column was analysed by Logit model to determine the adsorption capacity constant and adsorption rate constant. Desorption of methyl orange from the surface of SMSGW was efficiently done using ethanol.

Keywords: dye adsorption; surfactant modification; silica gel waste; SMSGW; industrial waste; methyl orange dye; dye removal; waste management; aquatic environments; wastewater treatment; desorption; ethanol; environmental pollution.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEWM.2014.058792

International Journal of Environment and Waste Management, 2014 Vol.13 No.1, pp.37 - 49

Received: 27 Jun 2011
Accepted: 04 Aug 2012
Published online: 13 May 2014 *

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