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Biosorption of basic dyes onto Azolla filiculoides : equilibrium and kinetic modeling
Author(s) -
Padmesh T. V. N.,
Vijayaraghavan K.,
Anand K.,
Velan M.
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
asia‐pacific journal of chemical engineering
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.348
H-Index - 35
eISSN - 1932-2143
pISSN - 1932-2135
DOI - 10.1002/apj.157
Subject(s) - biosorption , sorption , langmuir , freundlich equation , chemistry , nuclear chemistry , methylene blue , rhodamine b , chromatography , langmuir adsorption model , adsorption , packed bed , environmental engineering , organic chemistry , catalysis , environmental science , photocatalysis
The biosorption of basic dyes, rhodamine B (RMB) and methylene blue (MB), using Azolla filiculoides was investigated in a batch reactor and in a fixed‐bed column. Biosorption isotherms revealed that pH 5 was the optimum condition for maximum biosorption of both basic dyes. Sorption isotherm data were fitted with Langmuir, Freundlich, Redlich–Peterson and Sips models. A maximum uptake of 166.7 and 91.8 mg/g was observed for MB and RMB, respectively, according to the Langmuir model. It was observed from the kinetic data that the biosorption process using A. filiculoides followed pseudo‐second order kinetics. The ability of A. filiculoides to biosorb MB in a packed column was investigated, as well. Experiments conducted at different bed heights (15–25 cm) revealed that decrease in bed height resulted in inferior biosorption performance. At 25 cm, the A. filiculoides bed was capable of providing breakthrough at 76.2 h, with column uptake and removal efficiency of 80.2 mg/g and 84.9%, respectively. The Thomas model was successfully used to analyze the experimental data and the model parameters were evaluated. Copyright © 2008 Curtin University of Technology and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.