Preparation of synthetic alumina from aluminium foil waste and investigation of its performance in the removal of RG-19 dye from its aqueous solution

In this study, aluminium foil waste was used as a raw material to prepare alumina (Al2O3) by the precipitation process. Then, the produced alumina was applied in the removal of reactive green-19 dye from the simulated wastewater. The purity of the prepared alumina was investigated by the X-ray florescence test, and it was more than 97%. The X-ray diffraction analysis displayed that the alumina sample calcined at 550 degrees C had gamma-Al2O3 phase. High-surface area and the pore volume obtained were 246 m(2)/g and 0.412 cm(3)/g, respectively. Also, the real and bulk densities were found to be 3 and 1.35 g/cm(3), respectively. Batch adsorption experiments were carried out for removing RG dye from simulated wastewater using the prepared alumina. The effects of pH, contact time, agitation speed, alumina dose, and the initial concentration on the adsorption process were studied. The optimum conditions were as follows: pH = 3; contact time = 90 min; agitation speed = 200 rpm; and alumina dose = 0.25 g for initial dye concentration of 100 mg/L to have high removal efficiency (98.65%). Moreover, the results revealed that the experimental data fitted to both Freundlich and Langmuir isotherms. The maximum adsorption capacity was 133.33 mg/g.