Adsorption of crystal violet on rice husk activated carbon

Abstract

The need to develop effective technology for the treatment of liquid effluent of dye-intensive industries such as textile, rubber, paint, and printing is synonymous with the need to save the life-threatening risks posed by these carcinogenic and mutagenic pollutants on human and aquatic lives. Isotherms of adsorption of crystal violet (CV) on activated carbon (AC) synthesized from rice husk are presented herewith to elucidate the mechanism of the adsorption process of crystal violet dye contaminated water on rice husk activated carbon. AC was synthesized from rice husk via a phosphoric acid activating agent at low temperatures. Langmuir, Freundlich, Temkin and Dubinin–Radushkevich (DR) isotherm studies were employed. The mean square values for Langmuir, Freundlich, Temkin and D-R models were 0.98, 0.91, 0.94, and 0.63, respectively. Analysis of the isotherms of the adsorption of crystal violet sorbate on the synthesized rice husk sorbent suggested that the adsorption process proceeded via a homogeneous monolayer mechanism. Langmuir isotherm gave the best fit of the adsorption process. Langmuir isotherm constant was –1.40 l/mg, and the equilibrium adsorption capacity was 13.53 mg/g.