Comparison between linear and non-linear forms of pseudo-first-order and pseudo-second-order adsorption kinetic models for the removal of methylene blue by activated carbon

The best-fit equations of linear and non-linear forms of the two widely used kinetic models, namely pseudo-first-order and pseudo-second-order equations, were compared in this study. The experimental kinetics of methylene blue adsorption on activated carbon was used for this research. Both the correlation coefficient (R(2)) and the normalized standard deviation Delta q(%) were employed as error analysis methods to determine the best-fitting equations. The results show that the non-linear forms of pseudo-first-order and pseudo-second-order models were more suitable than the linear forms for fitting the experimental data. The experimental kinetics may have been distorted by linearization of the linear kinetic equations, and thus, the non-linear forms of kinetic equations should be primarily used to obtain the adsorption parameters. In addition, the Delta q(%) method for error analysis may be better to determine the best-fitting model in this case.