Continuous sorption of methylene blue dye from aqueous solution using effective microorganisms-based water hyacinth waste compost in a packed column

Abstract

The current research article investigates the remediation of methylene blue (MB), in continuous operation mode, utilizing compost as an adsorbent. The adsorbent was prepared from the water hyacinth plant waste by using effective microorganism (EM) which acts as a decomposer for the materials used. EM contains the various microbes that are responsible for the decomposition and it is available in the dormant liquid form which requires activation. The researcher performed a continuous study in which the following parameters are varied—bed complexity and flow rate. The findings of the study revealed that a maximum uptake of 301.79 mg/g was achieved and the removal efficiency is found to be around 85.44%. The overall sorption time zone, exhaustion time, breakthrough time, and volume of dye treated are also calculated. Modeling of experimental data is performed using bed depth service time (BDST) model and Thomas model. 0.01 M HCL was used as an elutant for the regeneration studies and maximum desorption efficiency of 85.44% was obtained.