Adsorption of Methylene Blue onto a Low-Cost and Environmental Friendly Goethite

Abstract

The commercial adsorbent has been widely used for dye removal, but it is non-economical. The objective of this study is to synthesize a low-cost and environmental friendly goethite as an adsorbent for methylene blue removal from aqueous solution using a batch-Adsorption technique. Goethite was synthesized by adding sodium hydroxide to iron salt and aging at 40 °C for 7 and 21 days, then characterized by Infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and x-ray diffraction (XRD). The results showed that the optimum concentration of adsorbed methylene blue was 300 mg/L with an adsorption capacity of 82.81 and 75.8 mg/g for GPA7 and GT7, respectively. The equilibrium data fit the Langmuir isotherm model with correlation efficient higher than 0,99. Based on cost analysis, GT7 was the cheapest adsorbent, compared to GPA7 and commercial goethite.