Decolourization of Reactive Red 120 Using Agro Waste-Derived Biochar

Abstract

Adsorption behavior of Reactive Red 120 from aqueous solutions onto rice husk-derived biochar was examined in batch mode of operation. To obtain the optimized conditions, various adsorption variables including temperature, initial dye concentration, biochar dosage, pH, and contact time were studied for effective remediation of the dye. The results showed that biochar uptake capacity varied linearly with biochar dosage and pH, but varied nonlinearly with temperature. The optimum value of pH, temperature, and a dosage of biochar was obtained as 2.0, 35°C, and 1 g/L, respectively, for reactive red 120 adsorption. TG analysis, FTIR, and SEM were used to investigate biochar characterization, and the results revealed that dye sorption onto biochar caused biochar variation. The possibility of reusing the biochar was examined from desorption studies, and they are conducted by studying different elutants and by altering the ratio of solid to liquid. From the results of experiments, the rice husk-derived biochar was reported to remediate reactive red 120 with the maximum removal efficiency of 75%.