Adsorption of congo red dye from aqueous solution onto amino-functionalized silica gel

This study investigates the potential use of amino-functionalized silica gel as an adsorbent for the recovering of congo red dye from aqueous solution. The effects of pH, contact time, and temperature were determined and evaluated. Equilibrium isotherms were also studied. The adsorption kinetics was modeled by pseudo-first order and pseudo-second order. Furthermore, desorption of congo red was preliminarily studied. The pH range from 45 to 7.0 was favorable for the adsorption of congo red onto amine modified silica at 25 degrees C. Higher adsorption capacity was obtained at 50 degrees C. Langmuir and Freundlich models were fitted to the adsorption equilibrium data. The best fittings were obtained with the pseudo-second order and Langmuir model for kinetics and equilibrium, respectively. Desorption studies suggest that ion exchange might be the major mode of adsorption. KOH solution was the best desorbing agent for recovering the adsorbed dye.