Adsorption of Indigo Carmine Dye onto Physicochemical-Activated Leaves of Agave Americana L

Abstract

Dyes represent a serious threat to the environment when released in wastewaters. Hence, the main objective of this work was to design and fabricate an activated carbon from an invasive plant – Agave Americana L – capable of removing indigo carmine in aqueous solutions. The equilibrium adsorption of indigo carmine was assessed using the Freundlich, Langmuir and Dubinin-Radushkevich isotherm model.The zinc chloride was used to activate the powder of Agave at 600 °C and 900 °C. The results of this work showed that the elaborated activated carbon had a maximum adsorption of 61.72 mg/g and a specific surface area of 38 m²/g determined using the BET method. The thermodynamic study showed that the adsorption of indigo carmine on the activated carbon was endothermic. Therefore, the activated carbon prepared from the Agave Americana L would be an efficient and cost effective alternative adsorbent of indigo carmine and would have a positive effect on the environment.