Kinetic and isotherm studies of adsorption processes in the removal of reactive dyes from aqueous solutions

Abstract

This work was aimed to evaluate the capability of activated carbon prepared from Bamboo (Bambusa bambos) stems (BS) to remove two reactive dyes, which are Malachite Green G (MGG) and Reactive Red 2 (RR2) from aqueous media. The presently proposed activated carbon was prepared using the chemical activation. The activated carbon was also characterized by means of the Fourier Transform Infrared Spectrometry and Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy. To investigate the kinetic and isotherm characteristics, the adsorption tests were carried out in a batch experiment and then several mathematical models were employed for describing the experimental data. The present work has found that the proposed activated carbon was capable to remove the dyes with an adsorption capacity of 3.80 mg/g and 2.22 mg/g of MGG and RR2, respectively, for 60 min. The equilibrium data were described well by Freundlich isotherm model for both MGG and RR2. The pseudo-second-order model performed well the experimental kinetic data.