Continuous fixed bed adsorption studies of Rhodamine-B dye using polymer bound adsorbent

Abstract

An eco-friendly adsorbent is developed by coating polyaniline over an activated carbon prepared from the seeds of Prosopis Juliflora using ZnCl₂ as an activating agent (PPAC). The polymer bound adsorbent has good adsorption characteristics with a surface area of 1028 m²/g. A continuous flow fixed bed study is carried out by using PPAC as an adsorbent packed in a column for the removal of Rhodamine-B dye from aqueous solution. The effect of operating parameters such as flow rate, bed height and inlet dye concentration on the sorption characteristics of RB have been investigated at room temperature (30°C) and the natural pH of dye solution. On increasing the influent concentration from 25 to 75 mg/L, the volume of effluent treated decreases from 3800 to 2950 mL. The kinetic models suggested by Bohart-Adam, Thomas and Yoon-Nelson are employed to study this adsorption system. The YN model fits exceptionally well for the adsorption of RB onto PPAC with respect to all of the calculated parameters with high correlation coefficient (0.9431 to 0.9668) and low standard deviation (0.04 to 0.75).