Use of jackfruit peel carbon (JPC) for adsorption of rhodamine-B, a basic dye from aqueous solution

Abstract

A carbon sorbent derived from an agricultural waste, jackfruit peel was applied to study the removal of a basic dye, rhodamine-B from aqueous solution. Batch experiments were performed as a function of process parameters like agitation time, initial dye concentration, temperature, carbon dose and <i style="">p</i>H. Modified Ritchie second order equation better predicted the kinetic results compared to other rate equations (pseudo first order and pseudo second order) tested. Among the isotherm models applied to the equilibrium data Redlich-Peterson model better predicted the experimental values. The adsorption capacity was 121.47 mg g^-1 at an initial <i style="">p</i>H of 6.0 and at 32 ± 0.5°C. The adsorption capacity increased with increase in temperature. The influence of <i style="">p</i>H on dye removal was not significant. An optimum carbon dose of 1.2 g L^-1 was required for the maximum removal (96%) of dye from its 60 mg L^-1 solution. A significant portion of the dye was recovered from the spent carbon using 50% acetic acid.