Pretreated Fruit Peels as Adsorbents for Removal of Dyes from Water

Abstract

This research focused on the development of adsorbents based on cheap, abundant and locally available agricultural wastes in Viet Nam to remove dyes from aqueous solution. In details, the effects of initial concentration (100-600 ppm), initial dose of adsorbent (0.1-1.5 g) and contacting time on the adsorption behaviors of Rhodamine B onto different kinds of pretreated fruit peel wastes, including orange peels, pomelo peels, passion-fruit peels, were evaluated. It was found that these bio-peels efficiently adsorbed in a short time, within one hour. The dye removal efficiency of orange peels and passion fruit peels ranged from 82-92% while that of pomelo peels was faster with 91-94% depending on the initial concentration (200 ppm). The efficiency of dye removal increases significantly as adsorbent dosage increases, passion-fruit peels 43-98%, pomelo peels 67-94%, orange peels 57-93%. Equilibrium adsorption results obeyed well the Freundlich isotherm; according the adsorption capacity was determined in the order: passion-fruit peels > orange peels > pomelo peels.