Evaluating cottonwood seeds as a low-cost biosorbent for crystal violet removal from aqueous matrics

Abstract

In this study, cottonwood seeds (CWS) were introduced as a novel, green, and low-cost biosorbents for the removal of crystal violet (CV) dye from aqueous solutions. To illustrate the characteristics of CWS, surface morphology, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, field emission scanning electron microscopes, and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy techniques were employed. Important adsorption variables (i.e., equilibrium time, solution pH, CWS amount, CV concentration, and temperature) were systematically studied. Maximum CV dye adsorption was observed at pH 10 using 20 mg of the adsorbent. Different adsorption isotherms were investigated, and the results were more accurately consistent with the Langmuir model (R 2 = 0.992). The maximum capacity of adsorption was 153.85 mg g−1 at 60 min. The kinetic data were examined by different models and a pseudo-second-order model supplied the best correlation between experimental data. Investigated thermodynamic parameters at different temperatures illustrated that the CV adsorption procedure was spontaneous and endothermic with an increase in entropy. The percentage removal and the relative standard deviations for the real sample analysis were in the range of 89–98% and 4.9–9.5%, respectively. High adsorption capacity and low equilibrium time demonstrated that CWS is an impressive biosorbent for dye pollutants uptakes from aqueous solutions and real industrial wastewater samples.