Sorption study of methylene blue on activated carbon prepared from Jatropha curcas and Terminalia catappa seed coats

Abstract

This research work targets the effectiveness of the prepd. activated carbon from Jatropha curcas and Terminalia catappa seed coats for adsorption of methylene blue (MB) from aq. soln. The prepd. Jatropha activated carbon (JAC) and Terminalia activated carbon (TAC) were characterised using Fourier Transform IR Spectroscopy (FTIR), SEM (SEM), and Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) surface area anal. Effects of initial concn., pH, contact time, adsorbent dose and temp. on the adsorption expts. were studied and the concn. of methylene blue was monitored using spectrophotometry. The adsorption capacities of these adsorbents were found to be 37.84 mg/g and 17.44 mg/g for methylene blue uptake by JAC and TAC, resp. The exptl. data were analyzed using Langmuir, Freundlich, and Dubinin-Radushkevich isotherms. The data fitted best into Langmuir isotherm for Methylene blue-JAC and Methylene blue-TAC systems. The kinetic studies fitted into pseudo second order kinetics model. The process chem. was exothermic. [on SciFinder(R)]