INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SCIENTIFIC & TECHNOLOGY RESEARCH VOLUME 4, ISSUE 12, DECEMBER 2015
ISSN 2277-8616
Adsorption Of Methylene Blue From Aqueous
Solution By Pomelo (Citrus Maxima) Peel
Koninika Tanzim, M. Z. Abedin
Abstract: The potential of Pomelo peel for adsorption of Methylene Blue from aqueous solution has been studied. Batch adsorption studies were carried
out under varying experimental conditions of contact time, dye concentration, adsorbent dose and pH. The adsorption of methylene blue was maximum
at pH 5.0. The adsorption studies show that the removal percentage of methylene blue corresponds to 95% with a retention time of 90 minutes. The
optimum adsorbent dose was 1g/150ml for initial dye-concentration of 100 ppm. The Langmuir adsorption model was used for the mathematical
description of adsorption equilibrium and it was found that the experimental data fitted very well to the Langmuir model.
Index Terms: Adsorption, Adsorption Isotherm, Batch Study, Methylene Blue, Pomelo Peel, pH, Adsorbent Dose.
-----------------------♦--------------------
1 INTRODUCTION
Textile industry is one of the largest manufacturing
industries in Bangladesh. These industries consume large
quantities of water and produce large volumes of
wastewater from different stages in the dyeing and finishing
processes(1).The wastewater containing different types of
dyes are polluting the nearby canals, rivers and soil,
thereby damaging the quality of the receiving water bodies,
aquatic eco-system and the bio-diversity of the environment
(2). Many treatment processes have been applied for the
removal of dyes from wastewater which include:
Photocatalytic degradation (3, 4), degradation by zerovalent iron nanoparticles (5), electrochemical coagulation
(6), cation exchange membranes (7), and biological
processes (8). Use of activated carbon for the removal of
dyes from wastewater has been very effective because of
its high capacity for adsorption of organic matter. However
the use of activated carbon is limited because of its high
cost (9-12). These limitations have motivated for the search
of low-cost and effective bio-adsorbents. Bio-adsorbents
appear to offer the best prospects to remove dyes from
textile wastewater (13-15). The purpose of this study is to
investigate the potentiality of using Pomelo peel as an
adsorbent for the adsorption of methylene blue. The effects
of initial dye concentration, contact time, pH, and adsorbent
dose on methylene blue adsorption has been studied.
Adsorption isotherm and parameters are also established,
calculated and discussed.
2 MATERIALS AND METHODS
2.1 Preparation of Adsorbents
The collected Pomelo peels (locally called Jambura) were
boiled with distilled water and the filtered. The peels were
then dried in oven at 80°c for 24 hours. The dried peels
were grounded to a fine powder by using morter and sieved
through 600 micron sieves. Finally the grounded peels were
packed in air tied container and labeled.
2.2 Preparation of Standard Solution
1L of stock solution of methylene blue was prepared by
dissolving 0.1g in a volumetric flask; followed by dilution up
to the mark by addition of distilled water. This solution was
used for adsorption studies. Working standard solutions
were made by diluting the stock solution with distilled water.
2.3.1 Effect of pH
The effect of pH on the removal efficiency of phenol was
carried out over the pH range from 2.5 to 9. 150 ml of
methylene blue solution of 100 mg/L was taken in a beaker
and was stirred with 1.0g 0f adsorbent. Stirring was carried
out in a magnetic stirrer for 80 minutes. The samples were
then filtered and the concentration of methylene blue in the
supernatant was determined by UV-VIS spectrophotometry
at m x of 664nm.
2.3.2 Effect of Adsorbent Dose
The effect of Pomelo peel adsorbent on the amount of
removal of methylene blue solutionwas obtained by
contacting 150mL of methylene blue solution of initial
concentration of 1000mg/L with different weighed amount
(0.20, 0.40, 0.80, 1.0, 1.20, 1.40 g) of adsorbent in a
beaker. Each sample was then stirred in a magnetic stirrer
for 80 minutes. The samples were then filtered and the
concentrations of methylene blue in the supernatant were
then determined spectrophotometrically at 664 nm.
2.3.3 Effect of Contact Time
In this experiment contact time ranged from 20-120
minutes, initial concentration of dye was 100mg/L, initial
solution was 5.0 and adsorbent dose was 1g/100mL.
2.3.4 Adsorption Equilibrium
Equilibrium studies were carried out by contacting 1g of
adsorbent with 150 mL of methylene blue solution of
different initial concentrations (40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, 100
and 110 mg/L) in a 250 mL beaker. The samples were then
stirred in a magnetic stirrer for 120 minutes. After
equilibrium, the concentrations in the samples were
determined by spectrophotometry. The amount of
adsorption at equilibrium, qe (mg/g) was calculated by:
_____________________________

qe = (
Koninika Tanzim, M.Sc. student, Department of
Environmental Science, Independent University,
2.3 Sorption
Experiment
Bangladesh,
PH- +8801719633612,
 E-mail- [email protected]
o
-
e
V / W,
Where, o
and e
(mg/L)
are
the
liquid-phase
concentrations of phenol at initial and equilibrium time
respectively. V(L) is the volume of the solution, and W(g) is
230
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INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SCIENTIFIC & TECHNOLOGY RESEARCH VOLUME 4, ISSUE 12, DECEMBER 2015
the mass of adsorbent used. The percentage removal of
methylene blue can be calculated as follows:
Removal percentage =
o-
t)
/
o
3.3 Effect of Contact Time
Effects of contact time on adsorption efficiency were
studied and the results are shown in fig.3
× 100,
% Removal
Where, t (mg/L) is the liquid-phase concentration of
methylene blue at time t.
3 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
3.1 Effect of Solution pH on Dye Adsorption
The effect of solution pH on the equilibrium adsorption
capacity of Pomelo peel was studied at 100mg/L initial dye
concentration and temperature 25°c between pH value of
2.0 to 9.0. As shown in fig 1, the dye-uptake was found to
increase with pH. The maximum removal of dye was
achieved (91.5%) at
100
50
0
0
50
100
150
Time (minutes)
Fig. 3. Effect of contact time on the removal of methylene
blue by adsorption on to Pomelo peel
From fig.3 it is evident that increase in removal efficiency
increases with contact time. An optimum contact time was
found to be 80 minutes when 1.0g adsorbent was used with
dye concentration of 100mg/L. Removal percentage was
found to be nearing 93%. Almost all the active sites of the
adsorbent might have been saturated after 80 minutes of
contact time. Because increasing the contact time to 120
minutes affected a decrease in percent removal.
100
% Removal
ISSN 2277-8616
80
60
40
20
0
0
2
4
6
8
3.4 Adsorption Isotherm
10
pH
0.25
0.2
1/qe
Fig. 1. Effect of Solution pH on Dye Adsorption
pH 5.0. After pH 5.0, the % removal remained constant till
pH 8.0 and at pH 9.0, the removal efficiency started to
decrease. A similar trend was reported for the adsorption of
methylene blue onto passion fruit peel and wheat shells
(16, 17).
3.2 Effect of Adsorption Dose
Fig. 2 shows that the amount of adsorbent significantly
affects the adsorption of methylene blue by Pomelo peels.
At adsorbent dose of 1.0 g (optimum adsorbent dose)
maximum removal efficiency was obtained. The removal
efficiency increases initially and reduced upto 95% at
adsorbent dose of 1.0g. With higher adsorbent dose the %
removal decreased because of decreased adsorbent sites.
% Removal
100
0.15
0.1
0.05
0
0
0
0.5
1
1.5
Adsorbent Dose (g)
Fig. 2. Effect of Pomelo peels dose on the removal of
methylene blue
0.2
0.25
Equilibrium study on adsorption provides information on the
capacity of the adsorbent. The most widely used isotherm
equation for modeling of the adsorption data is the
Langmuir equation, which is valid for monolayer sorption
onto a surface with a finite number of identical sites and is
given by the following equation:
1/
0
0.15
Fig. 4. Langmuir isotherm for methylene blue adsorption on
Pomelo peel adsorbent
60
20
0.1
1/Ce
80
40
0.05
= 1/
. 1/
+ 1/
,
Where, e represents the equilibrium dye concentration is
solution (mg/L), qe is the adsorption capacities (amount of
dye adsorbed per weight of adsorbent, mg/g), qm and
are Langmuir constant that can be determined from the
above mentioned Langmuir linear equation. A plot of 1/ qe
vs. 1/ e was plotted. The constants qm and
were
evaluated from the intercept and slope of this plot (fig.4).
The slope of this plot is equivalent to 1/ qm , the intercept
corresponds to 1/ qm The isotherm constants and
231
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INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SCIENTIFIC & TECHNOLOGY RESEARCH VOLUME 4, ISSUE 12, DECEMBER 2015
correlation coefficients are shown in table 1. The sorption
equilibrium data fitted Langmuir equation with equation with
correlation coefficient value of 0.9820. From table 1, it was
also evident that the maximum sorption n capacity of
pomelo peel for methylene blue was found to be 28.57
mg/g.
TABLE 1
Equilibrium Constants for Methylene Blue onto Pomelo Peel
Langmuir isotherm parameters
(mg/g)
28.57
0.9820
ISSN 2277-8616
AmaranthAzo dye on A F under potentiost tic model,”
Dyes Pigments, 76,440-446, 2008.
[7] J. S. Wu, C.H. Liu, K.H. Chu and S.Y. Suen, “Removal
of cationic dye methyl violate 2B form water by cation
exchange membr nes,” J. Membr. Sci 309, 239-245,
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[9] F.C. Wu and R.L Tseng, “High adsorption capacity of
NaOH- activated carbon for dye removal from aqueous
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0.058
4 CONCLUSION
Pomelo peel is an excellent adsorbent for its higher
adsorptive capacity than many other cellulose-based
adsorbents. The main advantage of using such materials is
due to their environmental friendly nature and also to their
highly selective nature of adsorption. Furthermore, the use
of biomass adsorbent reduces the cost of the effluent
treatment. The maximum removal of methylene blue takes
place at pH 5.0 and the process can be explained by
Langmuir adsorption isotherm.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
We would like to express our thanks to Mr. Rafiqul Islam,
Laboratory Manager, Department of Environmental
Science, Independent University, Bangladesh for providing
necessary assistance in the Laboratory.
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