Modified coal fly ash as low cost adsorbent for removal reactive dyes from batik industry

Abstract

The removal of reactive dyes on modified coal fly ash has been investigated during a series of batch adsorption experiments. Physical characteristics of modified coal fly ash was characterized by Brunauer Emmett Teller (BET) surface area analysis, X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectrophotometer (FT-IR), and scanning electron microscope (SEM). The effects of operational parameters such as initial dye concentration (50–200 mg/L), solution pH (4–10) and adsorbent dosage (50–200 mg/L) were studied. The adsorption experiments indicated that modified coal fly ash was effective in removing of Remazol Blue. The percentage removal of dyes increased while the modified fly ash dosage increased. The percentage removal of dyes increased with decreased initial concentration of the dye and also increased with amount of adsorbent used. The optimum of removal of dyes was found to be 94% at initial dye concentration 50 g/mL, modified fly ash dosage 250 g/mL, and pH of 2.0.