Adsorption of Methylene blue by banana trunk and coconut husk

Abstract

Methylene blue is a physically and chemically stable dye and mainly used in textile industry. It has been discharged as constituent effluent and caused pollution to the environment. Banana trunk and coconut husk was found abundantly in Malaysia. Therefore, the main purpose of this research is to evaluate the efficiency of the banana trunk and coconut husk on the adsorption of methylene blue. One factor at a time (OFAT) method was applied to investigate the initial concentration on and dosage the adsorption efficiency of banana trunk and coconut husk. The first parameter manipulated was the dye concentration (2 ppm to 12 ppm, run for 60 minutes by using 0.1 g adsorbent), and second parameter was ratio of adsorbent to volume of methylene blue (0.02 g to 0.1 g, run for 60 minutes using 10 ppm) The best OFAT results by using 0.1g of banana trunk and coconut husk, 60 minutes and 10 ppm of methylene blue. Based on the initial concentration of dye and the optimal dosage experiment, it showed that the optimum condition to reach maximum adsorption efficiency (79.78%) were using 0.1g of banana trunk and 10 ppm of methylene blue solution, while 77.96% were using 0.1g of coconut husk and 10 ppm of methylene blue. Thus, banana trunk and coconut husk has proven to be a bio-adsorbent which can be used to remove methylene blue in wastewater.