Adsorptive removal of methylene blue from aqueous solution by polyaniline-nickel ferrite nanocomposite: a kinetic approach

Abstract

This work deals with the development of a new efficient method for the removal of methylene blue dye from aqueous solutions by using polyaniline (PANI)–nickel ferrite (NiFe2O4) nanocomposite. It is successfully synthesised in situ through self-polymerisation of monomer aniline. Adsorptive removal studies are carried out for water-soluble methylene blue dye using PANI–nickel ferrite nanocomposite in aqueous solutions. Different parameters such as dose of adsorbent, contact time, different initial concentrations and pH have been observed to optimise reaction condition. It is observed that the adsorptive removal by PANI–nickel ferrite nanocomposite is good comparable with other method for removing methylene blue dye from aqueous solutions. The optimum conditions for the removal of the dye are initial concentration 40 mg/L, adsorbent dose 8 g/L and pH 9. The adsorption capacity is found to be 6.65 mg/g. The adsorption followed pseudo-second-order kinetics. The experimental isotherm is analysed with Freundlich and Langmuir equations. Desorption experiment was performed for recycle and reused study of nanocomposite. The characterisation of prepared adsorbent has been done by techniques such as SEM, XRD and EDS.