Pressmud as Biosorbent for Reactive Dyes Removal from Wastewater

Abstract

Abstract: Textile industry uses reactive dyes for dyeing. These textile effluents rigorously affect environment and living organisms. The study investigates use of “pressmud” a sugar industry waste, for preparation of biosorbent and its efficient use for removal of reactive dyes. In process, dried pressmud was pulverized and sieved (200-250 µm) followed by chemical activation by 5% HNO3 solution. Carbonization of pressmud was done at 400℃ for 3h. pressmud was characterized for XRD, FTIR. Factors affecting Biosorption process like pH, contact time, dye concentration, biosorbent dose were studied. Textile wastewater was analyzed before and after Biosorption for parameters like COD, BOD, TDS, turbidity etc. Adsorption isotherms like Langmuir and Freundlich isotherm were studied along with Temkin isotherm. The results showed removal of Orange dye followed Freundlich model (R2 =0.982) for Blue dye removal and treating textile wastewater, Langmuir model was best fitted (R2 =0.939, R2 =0.993). Maximum adsorption capacity of pressmud obtained was 151.51 mg / g. Reaction kinetics for Biosorption process was found to be Pseudo second order (R2 =0.984, 0.992, 0.999). The results indicated pressmud as promising material for preparation of low cost biosorbent and showed good dye removal efficiency.