Removal of carmine indigo dye with moringa oleifera seed extract

Abstract

Moringa oleifera has been tested as an active agent in removing various types of anionic dyes. Specially, removal of an indigoid dye, Carmine Indigo, has been tested. The fast kinetics of coagulant action and the high potential of this coagulant agent to treat wastewater from dyestuff has been revealed. Moringa oleifera is fully working in coagulation and flocculation process, and it achieves an average level of removal up to 80%. The pH does not affect the coagulant process, and temperature has a negative influence. By increasing initial dye concentration, lower dye percentage removal is achieved and higher q is presented. Coagulation and flocculation processes can be estimated by the Langmuir and Freundlich models, but the first one gives a better explanation of the coagulation and adsorption behavior (r2 equal to 0.97). Carmine Indigo removal presents an optimum q capacity at 343 mg L-1 and 11.2 °C. Pilot plant installation gives a similar efficiency for dye removal. © 2009 American Chemical Society.