Decontamination of colored wastewater using synthetic sorbents

Abstract

In the recent years, the adsorption capacities of synthetic polymeric adsorbents have been intensively studied due to their diversity in surface and porosity, physicochemical stability and the regeneration potentiality. In this study four synthetic polymers have been used as alternative adsorbent for the removal of two azo dyes from aqueous solutions. The effects of dye concentration, adsorbent nature, temperature, and pH of the solution onto the kinetics of the adsorption process were in detail investigated. With the increase in the initial concentration from 5.10-5 to 1.10-3 mol/L the amount of dye adsorbed increased, while the removal percentage decreased. The increase of the temperature (298-338 K) induced a positive effect on the adsorption indicating that the process is endothermic, and the increase of pH induced a decrease in removal percentage. The maximum dye removal percentage obtained was found to be up to 99%. The experimental data were well correlated by the Sips adsorption model, and the results were applied for obtaining the equilibrium parameters.