Adsorption of Alizarin Red from Aqueous Solution Using Ultra-Fine Fly Ash

Abstract

Alizarin Red (AR) has been shown to be effectively removed from aqueous solution using the ultrafine fly ash (UFA) prepared by ball milling from raw fly ash (FA), a low-cost industrial solid waste. The maximum removal rate was 91.04% in a solution of initial AR concentration of 700 mg/L, adsorption time of 60 min at pH 5.0 and temperature of 25°C. Compared with FA, the adsorption capacity of UFA is higher for AR removal. Effects of important parameters, contact time, adsorbate concentration, pH and temperature, were investigated. The UFA and AR-loaded UFA were characterized by FT-IR. The equilibrium, kinetics and thermodynamics of AR adsorption onto UFA were evaluated. The AR uptake process followed the pseudo-second-order rate equation well, but the pseudo-first-order rate equation and intra-particle diffusion equation could only be applied to describe the initial stage of adsorption, furthermore, intra-particle diffusion might be the rate-controlling step of fast adsorption process. The sorption decreased with increasing temperature and the adsorption apparent activation energy was 8.28kJ/mol. Langmuir isotherm equation could better describe the adsorption equilibrium at different temperatures, compared with Freundlich model. Thermodynamic parameters, ΔG, ΔH and ΔS, were also calculated. The results inferred that the adsorption of AR/UFA system was feasible, spontaneous and exothermic nature of the process which was mainly controlled by physical adsorption.