ADSORPTION OF REMAZOL BRILLIANT BLUE ON AN ORANGE PEEL ADSORBENT

A novel orange peel adsorbent developed from an agricultural waste material was characterised and utilised for the removal of Remazol Brilliant Blue from an artificial textile-dye effluent. The adsorption thermodynamics of this dye-adsorbent pair was studied in a series of equilibrium experiments. The time to reach equilibrium was 15 h for the concentration range of 30 mg L-1 to 250 mg L-1. The adsorption capacity decreased with increasing temperature, from 9.7 mg L-1 at 20 degrees C to 5.0 mg L-1 at 60 degrees C. Both the Langmuir and Freundlich isotherm models fitted the adsorption data quite reasonably. The thermodynamic analysis of dye adsorption onto the orange peel adsorbent indicated its endothermic and spontaneous nature. Thus, the application of orange peel adsorbent for the removal of dye from a synthetic textile effluent was successfully demonstrated.