Study of the effectiveness of the third generation polyamide-amine and polypropylene imine dendrimers in removal of reactive blue 19 dye from aqueous solutions

Background: Dye and colored materials cause health risks in water and therefore, must be removed from water supplies and wastewater. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of the third generation poly(amidoamine) (PAMAM) and poly (propylene imine) dendrimers (PPI-G3) in the removal of reactive blue 19 (RB19) dye from aqueous solutions and determine the optimum conditions for the removal. Methods: This study was performed in a laboratory and batch scale. In this study, synthetic wastewater was examined with three different concentrations of RB19 (25, 50, and 100 mg/L), different pHs (3, 7, and 10), various amounts of dendrimer (0.4, 0.8, 1.2, and 1.6 g/L), and at different times (15, 30, and 60 minutes) during the adsorption process. The remaining amount of dye was measured by spectrophotometer at 592 nm wavelength. Langmuir and Freundlich isotherms were also tested. Results: The results showed that by increasing the reaction time and adsorbent dosage, the rate of dye removal increased while by increasing the initial dye concentration and pH, the dye removal efficiency was significantly decreased. In this study, with increase of pH from 3 to 10, dye removal efficiency at a concentration of 25 mg/L, decreased from 72% to 20% and 88% to 17% by PAMAM and PPI dendrimers, respectively. Excel software was used for data analysis. Conclusion: Both adsorbents had a good dye removal efficiency, but PPI dendrimer was more effective in removing RB19. Adsorption data followed the Langmuir isotherm.