Adsorption Characteristics of Reactive Black 5 from Aqueous Solution onto Chitosan

Adsorption of reactive black 5 (RB5) from aqueous solution onto chitosan was investigated in a batch system. The effects of solution pH, initial dye concentration, and temperature were studied. Adsorption data obtained from different batch experiments were modeled using both pseudo first-and second-order kinetic equations. The equilibrium adsorption data were fitted to the Freundlich, Tempkin, and Langmuir isotherms over a dye concentration range of 45-100 mu mol/L. The best results were achieved with the pseudo second-order kinetic and Langmuir isotherm equilibrium models, respectively. The equilibrium adsorption capacity (q(e)) was increased with increasing the initial dye concentration and solution temperature, and decreasing solution pH. The chitosan flakes for the adsorption of the dye was regenerated efficiently through the alkaline solution and was then reused for dye removal. The activation energy (E-a) of sorption kinetics was estimated to be 13.88 kJ/mol. Thermodynamic parameters such as changes in free energy (Delta G), enthalpy (Delta H), and entropy (Delta S) were evaluated by applying the van't Hoff equation. The thermodynamics of reactive dye adsorption by chitosan indicates its spontaneous and endothermic nature.