Anomalocardia brasiliana shellfish shells as a novel and ecofriendly adsorbent of Nylosan Brilliant Blue acid dye

Malacoculture waste (Anomalocardia brasiliana) shellfish shells (ABSS) were evaluated as adsorbents of Nylosan Brilliant Blue (NBB) acid dye. The ABSS were thermally activated at 1,000 °C for 10 h and then characterized by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, analysis of specific surface area (BET), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and scanning electron microscopy. Point of zero charge (PZC) analysis of ABSS verified pHPZC 13.0. The study of kinetics showed that the pseudo-second-order model fit the experimental data best and the system reached equilibrium within 5 min. Adsorption isotherms followed the Langmuir–Freundlich isotherm and ABSS reached an outstanding maximum adsorption capacity of 405 mg·g−1 under the following optimum conditions: pH 12.4, 303 K, 450 rpm, 2.0 g of adsorbent, and 150 μm average particle size. These conditions were obtained after a previous statistical analysis of the variables. Enthalpy and Gibbs energy obtained in the thermodynamics experiments were −23.79 kJ·mol−1 and −4.07 kJ·mol−1, respectively. These parameters confirm that the process is exothermic, spontaneous, and indicative of the physical nature of the adsorption. The adsorption of NBB onto ABSS tended to be more favorable at a lower temperature. Low value of enthalpy suggested that weak binding forces, such as electrostatic interactions, govern the sorption mechanism. ABSS high availability in the environment, its low toxicity and high efficiency make it a promising ecofriendly adsorbent of textile dyes.