A comparative study of the adsorption of congo red dye on rice husk, rice husk char and chemically modified rice husk char from aqueous media

Abstract

Desirable cost and removal effectiveness of the adsorbents can be obtained by the use and modification of agricultural waste products. Therefore, in this study rice husk (RH), rice husk char (RHC) and chemically modified rice husk char (CMRHC) were prepared and used as adsorbents for the removal of Congo Red dye from aqueous media under different experimental conditions. It was observed that the adsorption of Congo Red dye was not only affected with the types of adsorbents used but also with other experimental variables such as time, adsorbent dose, dye concentration, pH and temperature. Thermodynamics study indicated that the adsorption of Congo Red dye on the three adsorbents is spontaneous and exothermic process. Kinetics data showed that the adsorption of Congo Red dye on these adsorbents follow pseudo-second order model better than the pseudo-first order model. Equilibrium adsorption data were tested with Langmuir, Freundlich, and Temkin adsorption isotherm models. It was observed that the equilibrium data of RH and RHC were found best fit to the Langmuir adsorption isotherm model whereas that of CMRHC was best fit to the Freundlich and Temkin models. CMRHC showed better efficiency compared to both RH and RHC.   Bull. Chem. Soc. Ethiop. 2020, 34(1), 41-54. DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.4314/bcse.v34i1.4