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ABSTRACT
The ability of waste banana pith to remove color from synthetic wastewaters
containing Acid violet, Congo red + Rhodamine B mixture and Congo red + Acid Violet
+ Rhodamine-B mixture was investigated. The influence of various parameters like dye
concentration, contact time, adsorbent dosage and pH on the removal of dyes has been
studied. The adsorption rate constant for Acid violet was found to be 1.27 x 10l/rain at
20 mg/L dye concentration. The equilibrium data for Acid violet fit well into Langmuir and
Freundlich isotherms. Maximum removal of 80% was observed for Acid violet at 50 mg/L
and at pH 2. Desorption studies reveal that the adsorption of Acid violet is mainly due to
chemisorption. Complete removal of dye mixture, Congo red + Rhodamine-B (20 mg/L
each) was observed at an adsorbent dosage of 6 g. The color removal was quantitative for
the dye mixtures, Congo red + Acid violet + Rhodamine-B (10 mg/L each) and Congo red
+ Acid violet + Rhodamine-B (20 mg/L each) by 5 and 6 g of adsorbent, respectively.
Key words: Waste banana pith, Acid violet, adsorption isotherms, intraparticle diffusion,
pH effect.
INTRODUCTION
Wastes from dye and textile industries pollute the surrounding water resources by
reducing the self purifying capacity of water bodies. Most of the dyes used in the textile
1691
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industry are stable to light and oxidation, as well as resistant to anaerobic digestion 1.
Although activated carbon is quite effective in the removal of dyes 2, a developing country
like India often cannot afford its high cost of procurement and regeneration. Various non-
conventional and low-cost adsorbents like chitin 3, fuller's earth and fired clay4, flyash5, china
clay6, peat moss and rice hulls 7, coconut husks, Fe3+/Cr 3 hydroxide sludge and red mud 9,
and biogas residual slurry 1'n'12 have been studied. In India, 80% of the population depends
on land for living, and utilization of agricultural wastes will provide additional employment
and income. India is the second ~argest banana producer after Brazil. India produces about
2.34 million tonnes from a cultivated area of 164,000 hectare 13. The central white portion
of the banana plant (pith) is used to treat persons bitten by poisonous snake ~4. Banana
stems are used for biogas generation is, paper making 16, ethanol production 17, etc. After
harvesting the banana "bunch" the rest of the plant is thrown away, burnt to reduce its
volume, or (rarely) used as manure. The approximate amount of dry matter produced per
banana plant is about 1, 1.3, and 5 g of leaf, pseudostem and fruits, respectively TM. In India
more than 200 million tonnes of agricultural wastes are produced annually 13. Such
agricultural wastes can be used for the treatment of wastcwaters economically. The
objective of this study is to investigate the capacity of waste banana pith to adsorb three
textile dyes, Acid violet (acid dye), Congo red + Rhodamine-B mixture and Congo red +
Acid violet + Rhodamine-B mixture.
U3
+ oo oo ~
d d c~ ~
7
U
"S
g
u3
-d- <
u3
<
-d" ~ (3~ -d" 0
c~ d d d c~
~J
[..
1695
13 Q------J3---
~5
@:3
0--4:3---0 0 0 0 O'
I
60 1~o l&o 2~ ~o
t,min
3. ADSORPTION DYNAMICS:
The adsorption rate constant of Acid violet on waste banana pith was obtained using
Lagergren rate equation 21.
K'
log(% - q) . log q~ 2.30~ t (1)
where qe and q are the amount of dye adsorbed (rag/g) at equilibrium and at time t, and
K' is the rate constant. The K' values were calculated from the slopes of the linear plots
of log (qe-q) vs t (Fig. 2) and are presented in Table II. Maximum K' value of 1.27 x
10"l/min was observed for dye concentration of 20 mg/L. The K' value for the adsorption
of Acid violet by biogas waste slurry has been reported as 1.3 x 10"~/min n.
~o
u
I I [ I I I
20 4,0 60 80 100 120 ~z~O ~1~3 180
t,rnin
Figure 2. Lagergren plot for the adsorption of Acid violet by waste banana
pith; dye concentration: ( ( ~ ) 20 mg/L~ ( A ) 50 rag/L, ( D ) 75 m g / L and
(~:~) 100 mg/L.
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20 0.127
50 0.037
75 0.025
100 0.018
4. INTRAPARTICLE DIFFUSION
According to Weber and Morris if the rate limiting step is intraparticle diffusion, a
plot of dye adsorbed (q) against square root of contact time (t ~) should yield a straight line
passing through the origin 4. These plots (Fig. 3) give straight lines at each concentration but
do not pass through the origin showing that the intraparticle diffusion is not the only rate
controlling stepS; 10-12. Similar results were reported in the removal of Acid violet by biogas
waste slurry 11. The rate constants of intraparticle diffusion (Kp) were calculated from the
slopes of the linear portion of the plots q vs t" for different dye concentrations and are
presented in Table III. Kp value for the adsorption of Acid violet by biogas waste slurry
was 1.08 x 10-1 mg/g/min" at a dye concentration of 50 mg/L n.
5. ADSORPTION ISOTHERMS
Langmuir Isotherm
The equilibrium results at different concentrations were analysed in the light of the
Langmuir equation 21
i i . J
0 4 8 12 - - 16
tl/2,m;1/2
Figure 3. Amount of dye adsorbed (rag dye/g adsorbent) vs t ~ for the
intraparticle transport of Acid violet by waste banana pith; dye concentration:
( O ) 20 mg/L, ( a ) 50 mg/L, ( ;-I ) 75 mg/L and (:~) 100 mg/L.
20 0.082
50 0.065
75 0.076
100 0.108
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Ce/qe vs Ce (Fig. 4) and are given in Table IV. The applicability of Langmuir isotherm for
Acid violet on waste banana pith (Fig. 4) indicates monolayer adsorption on a surface
containing a finite number of identical sites and is in good agreement with previous
findings u.
The essential characters of Langrnuir Isotherm can be expressed by a dimensionless
constant called equilibrium parameter, R L which is defined byz
Freundlich Isotherm
Freundlich isotherm is represented by the equation 5
log(x/m) . logk + 1/n(logCe) (4)
where x is the amount of dye adsorbed (mg/L), m is the weight of the adsorbent used (g/L),
Ce is the equilibrium concentration of dye in solution (mg/L) and k and n are constants
incorporating all factors affecting the adsorption process such as adsorption capacity and
intensity of adsorption respectively. The percent removal of the Acid violet increased from
27 to 88% with increasing adsorbent dose from 0.25 to 3.00 g. Linear plots for log(x/m) vs
(log Ce) (Fig. 5) shows that the adsorption of Acid violet on banana pith also follows
Freundlich isotherm, k and n were calculated from the intercept and sl09e ~anal were 0.50
and 1.79, respectively. Values of k and n for the adsorption of Lanasyn black on rice hulls 17
and Acid violet on biogas waste slurry u have been reported as 0.63 and 1.59, and 1.17 and
1.42, respectively. Values of 1< n < 10 represents beneficial adsorption 3.
6. EFFECT OF pH
The removal of Acid violet by waste banana pith decreased from 80 to 48%, as the
pH of dye solution (50 mg/L) increased from 2.0 to 11.0 (Fig. 6). The favourable
adsorption at acidic pH is in accordance with the earlier reports on the removal of Acid
violet by biogas waste slurry 11.
1700
8
7 /
/
/
/
6
/
/
0
3
1~ 2~ 3'0 ~o ~'o
Ce,mg/L
Figure 4. Langmuir plot for the adsorption of Acid violet by waste banana
pith.
QO b, Initial dye RL
mg/g L/rag concentration, Co,
mg/L
50 0.5000
75 0.4000
100 0.3333
1701
+1
:E
x
Figure 5. Freundlich plot for adsorption of Acid violet by waste banana pith.
c~
E
o
2
L 6 ~2
pH
7. DESORPTION STUDIES:
The occurrence of physisorption and ion exchange was ruled out by a very low
desorption of 5.00 and 1.67% with distilled water and sulphuric acid, respectively. Maximum
desorption of 70% was observed with 50%(v/v) acetic acid. This indicates the occurrence
of chemisorption. Similar results were reported for the desorption of Acid violet from the
dye adsorbed-biogas waste slurry ~1.
100
80 ~ [3 ~
o -o---
60
20
I I I I I I I
40 80 120 160 200 240 280
tmln
100
80
6(]
~o
E
~. 4o
2o
I I ~ _ _ 1 1 I
] 2 3 4 5 6
Adsorb~n[dosog~ , ~/lae mL
CONCLUSION
The waste banana pith is an effective adsorbent for the removal of Acid violet,
Congo red + Rhodamine-B mixture and Congo red + Acid violet + Rhodamine-B mixture.
Therefore it can be used for the treatment of dyeing wastewaters enriched with the above
dyes. Since the treated water contains only the extract of banana pith, it can be used for
irrigational purposes.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Authors are thankful to Mrs. Carol Olson of the University of Victoria for the
preparation of the manuscript.
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