Adsorption Capacity and Efficiency of Composite Thin Sheet Made of Chitosan-Activated Carbon on The Adsorption of Methylene Blue

Abstract

Abstract Methylene blue (MB) is a waste dye produced by textile industries. One way to reduce MB in polluting the environment is using MB adsorbent materials, such as chitosan (CS)-based composites. This research aims to investigate the adsorption capacity and efficiency of chitosan-activated carbon composites (CS-AC), which are in the form of thin sheets, on MB adsorption. The composite was made by manually mixing the chitosan and activated carbon, and then the mixture was poured into a dish and dried at around 50 °C until a dry, thin sheet was formed. The composites were prepared with varying activated carbon mass concentrations (25%, 50%, 75%, and 100% of chitosan mass). The MB adsorption measurements were carried out using UV-Vis spectroscopy. Adsorption capacity and adsorption efficiency increase with increasing activated carbon content, and the composite containing activated carbon mass 100% of chitosan mass shows the highest values, namely 11.51 mg/g and 95.93%, respectively. Furthermore, the values of adsorption capacity and adsorption efficiency are also influenced by the initial MB concentration and mass of the adsorbent. The adsorption capacity increases with increasing initial MB concentration but decreases with increasing adsorbent mass. Adsorption efficiency increases with increasing initial MB concentration and adsorbent mass.