Batch and column removal of the dye blue 3R over pumice

Removal of blue 3R dye (B3R) from wastewaters over pumice has been carried out in batch and fixed-bed column modes. Pumice is a cheap and readily available construction material. In the batch mode of the present study, various essential factors, influencing the adsorption such as dye concentration, amount of adsorbent, pH of the solution and temperature, have been monitored. Attempts have also been made to verify Langmuir, Freundlich and Temkin isotherm models. Langmuir was found to be more favourable in the present study. Maximum adsorbate uptake capacity (q(m)) was found 97.58 mg/g for 1 g of pumice at the temperature of 40 degrees C with a highest correlation coefficient of R-2 (0.994). Batch mode kinetic study results showed that the pseudo-second-order kinetic model is dominant during the adsorption. In the continuous mode of the present study, various bed depths, flow rates and dye solution concentration were applied to the adsorption column. Thomas and Clark models have also been tested. Error analysis methods such as sum of square error, sum of absolute error, average relative error and average relative standard error were examined to verify the degree of matching of the column adsorption models to the experimental data. According to the batch and column results of this research, an adsorption column filled with pumice can be accepted a good alternative for the removal of B3R dye from wastewaters.