Adsorption potential of Euphorbia Hirta’s (leaf and bark) towards methyl red in aqueous systems

Abstract

Dyes harm both aquatic species and humans in wastewaters, which are poisonous as well as carcinogenic. For decades, the adsorption system technique has been widely used to take out dyes from aqueous solutions since it is a trouble-free and suc-cessful process. The present study investigated the use of Euphorbia hirta’s leaf powder/bark powder/leaf ash/bark ash for the adsorption of methyl red dye (MRD) from aqueous samples for the first time. MRD aqueous solutions (250 ml, 100 ppm) were incubated for the required contact period with 1.2 gm/l of investigated sorbent with agitation at 100 rpm. The temperature and pH remained maintained at 27 degrees Celsius and 4.0, respectively. The residual amounts of MRD were evaluated by spectro-photometrically measuring MRD absorbance at 464.9 nm. The percent MRD clearance using E. hirta’s leaf powder/bark pow-der/leaf ash/bark ash showed that the optimal condition of MRD clearance happened at pH unit of 4, 100 ppm concentration of MRD, sorbent dose at 1.2 gm/l, ambient temperature, mechanical shaker agitation speed of 100 rpm. The optimal equilibration time for highest percentile MRD clearance was 125 min (E. hirta leaf powder), 105 min (E. hirta leaf ash powder and E. hirta bark powder) and 90 min (E. hirta bark ash powder). Negatively charged chemical groups like –COOH,-CHO,-NH, etc. present in the phytochemicals of E. hirta’s leaf and stem binds to positively charged ions in MRD, as a result, adsorption occurs. For its significant biosorption potential and cheap cost, E. hirta’s leaf powder/bark powder/leaf ash/bark ash can be regarded as alternative biomass for removing MRD from the aqueous solution.