Use of Agro-waste Musa acuminata and Solanum tuberosum peels for economical sorptive removal of Emerald green dye in ecofriendly way

In this work, the efficiency of Musa acuminata and Solanum tuberosum peels was evaluated and compared for removal of Emerald green dye from water in batch mode. Optimized conditions of temperature, pH and biosorbent dosage were used for isothermal and kinetic investigations; which revealed that more Emerald green dye was adsorbed by Musa acuminata peels (q(m) (maximum adsorption capacity) = 10.75 mg/g) rather than Solanum tuberosum peels (q(m) = 2.611 mg/g) following pseudo-second order kinetic model. Characterization of peels by SEM and FT-IR indicated porosity and presence of acidic type functional groups like; carboxylic and hydroxyl that can easily interact with cationic dyes, helping in their chemisorptive removal from waste water streams effectively. Isothermal studies further confirmed this trend. It indicated that both Musa acuminata and Solanum tuberosum peels can be effectively employed for Emerald green dye removal on larger scale. (C) 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.