Studies on the adsorption kinetics and isotherms for the removal and recovery of Methyl Orange from wastewaters using waste materials

De-Oiled Soya a waste of Soya oil industries and Bottom Ash a waste of thermal power plants have been used as effective adsorbent for recovery and removal of hazardous dye Methyl Orange from wastewater. During the studies effects of amount of dye and adsorbents, pH, sieve sizes, column studies etc. have been carried out. Adsorption of the dye over both the adsorbents has been monitored through Langmuir and Freundlich adsorption isotherm models and feasibility of the process is predicted in both the cases. Different thermodynamic parameters like Gibb's free energy, enthalpy and entropy of the undergoing process are also evaluated through these adsorption models. The kinetic studies confirm the first order process for the adsorption reaction and also play an important role in finding out half-life of the adsorption process and rate constants for both the adsorbents. It is also found that over the entire concentration range the adsorption on Bottom Ash takes place via particle diffusion process, while that of De-Oiled Soya undergoes via film diffusion process. In order to establish the practical utility of the developed process, attempts have been made for the bulk removal of the dye through column operations. For the two columns saturation factors are found as 98.61 and 99.8%, respectively, for Bottom Ash and De-Oiled Soya with adsorption capacity of each adsorbent as 3.618 and 16.664 mg/g, respectively. The dye recovery has been achieved by eluting dil. NaOH through the exhausted columns. (C) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.