Methylene blue removal by adsorption using chemically treated rice husk

Abstract

The application of adsorbent prepared from rice husk, an agro waste from rice production has been studied as an alternative substitute for activated carbon for the removal of MB dyes from wastewater. Adsorbents prepared from rice husk were used to remove methylene blue dye (MB) from an aqueous solution by adsorption method. This study investigates the potential use of rice husk, treated with sulphuric acid (RHC) for the removal of MB by adsorption from wastewater. MB removal by RHC study was conducted at varying contact time, initial dye concentration, adsorbent dosage and pH. A similar experiment was conducted for commercialize activated carbon and untreated rice husk (RH) in order to evaluate the performance of RHC. The adsorption efficiency of different adsorbents were in order AC > RHC >RH. The optimum values of contact time, initial dye concentration, adsorbent dosage and pH are found to be 120 minutes, 20 mg/L, 1.0 g/L and pH 6 for removal of MB dye respectively. Characterization study for the prepared RHC was Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). The kinetic adsorption of MB fitted the pseudo-second-order model which value R2 is equal to 0.9997 and MB adsorption fitted the Langmuir isotherm which value R2 is equal to 0.9865.