Adsorption behavior of methylene blue dye on nanocomposite multi-walled carbon nanotube functionalized thiol (MWCNT-SH) as new adsorbent

Efficient MWCNT-SH was used as adsorbent for the rapid removal and fast adsorption of hazardous cationic dye methylene blue from the liquid phase. The surface textural and morphological properties of the developed adsorbent were characterized using Scanning electron microscopy which reveals the porous nature of the developed adsorbent. The effect of influential parameters which posses embarking affect on the adsorption process such as contact time, temperature and initial concentration of methylene blue (MB) dye in solution were well investigated and elucidated. After optimizing the influential parameters it was observed that after 60 min there is no visible change noticed in the removal of methylene blue (MB) dye using MWCNT, MWCNT-SH1, MWCNT-SH3 and MWCNT-SH5 adsorbents, hence 60 min is the optimized contact time for the process additionally it was found that the adsorption capacity of MB dye on MWCNT, MWCNT-SH3 and MWCNT-SH5 surfaces increased with increasing the temperature. The adsorption capacity also increases with increase in the initial concentrations of MB dye from 10 to 40 mg L-1. The adsorption equilibrium data for MWCNT, MWCNT-SH1, MWCNT-SH3 and MWCNTS-SH5 was found to be well fitted and in good agreement with the type (III) of the Langmuir isotherm model, Freundlich isotherm model and type (II) model of the Langmuir isotherm model respectively. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.