Removal of methylene blue by jackfruit shell

Abstract

Jackfruit shell has been used as a new organic source to produce biosorbent. To test the potential of jackfruit shell powder to contribute in the field of wastewater treatment, especially in the adsorption of dye, batch adsorption studies have been conducted. In this study, the effects of several parameters on the adsorption performance have been studied, i.e. initial solution pH, initial dye concentration, biosorbent dosage, temperature and contact time. The maximum adsorption capacity and removal percentage obtained are 182.25 mg/g and 99.98% respectively which occurs when dye concentration of 50 mg/L is used at pH 13 when 0.05g of jackfruit shell powder is added. The studies show that pseudo-second-order kinetic model and Langmuir isotherm are the most suitable model to describe biosorption of methylene blue onto jackfruit shell powder. Characterizations of biosorbent have been performed by using SEM and FTIR to study the surface morphology and functional group of jackfruit shell powder. From the result, it can be concluded that jackfruit shell powder is a low cost-effective and environmentally friendly alternative adsorbent to remove methylene blue from wastewater.