Breadnut peel as a highly effective low-cost biosorbent for methylene blue: Equilibrium, thermodynamic and kinetic studies

This work reports the potential use of peel of breadnut, Artocarpus camansi, as an effective low-cost biosorbent for the removal of methylene blue (MB). Oven dried A. camansi peel (ACP), which had a point of zero charge at pH = 4.8, showed maximum biosorption capacity which was far superior to most literature reported fruit biomasses, including samples that have been activated. Isotherm studies on biosorption of MB onto ACP gave a maximum biosorption capacity of 409 mg g(-1). The Langmuir model was found to give the best fit among various isotherm models investigated and error analyses performed. Kinetics studies were fast with 50% dye being removed in less than 8 min from a 50 mg L-1 dye solution and further, kinetics followed the pseudo second order. Thermodynamic studies indicated that the biosorption process was both spontaneous and exothermic. Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) of ACP before and after MB adsorption was investigated. It can be concluded that oven dried breadnut peel is a highly promising low-cost biosorbent with great potential for the removal of MB. (C) 2013 King Saud University. Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V.