Kinetics and mechanism of adsorption of methylene blue from aqueous solution by nitric-acid treated water-hyacinth

Abstract

Kinetics adsorption experiments were conducted to evaluate the adsorption characteristics of a cationic dye (methylene blue, MB) onto nitric-acid treated water-hyacinth (N-WH). Results showed that N-WH can remove MB effectively from aqueous solution. The loading of MB onto N-WH was found to increase significantly with increasing the initial MB concentration, but the residual concentration of MB in solution also increased. A complete removal of MB from solution was only achieved at the lower range of initial MB concentration (less than 286 mg/L). Temperature had a slight effect on the amount adsorbed at equilibrium. The adsorption rate was fast and more than half of the adsorbed-MB was removed in the first 15 min at room temperature, which makes the process practical for industrial application. The adsorption kinetics at room temperature could be expressed by the pseudo second order model, while at higher temperatures (45–80 °C) and low MB concentration (97 mg/L) both Lagergren's model and the pseudo second order model can be used to predict the kinetics of adsorption. The overall rate of dye uptake was found to be controlled by external mass transfer at the beginning of adsorption, then gradually changed to intraparticle diffusion control at a later stage. The initial period where external mass transfer is the rate controlling step was found to increase with increasing initial MB concentration and decrease with increasing temperature. The increase in temperature was also found to increase the rate of adsorption and reduce the time required to reach equilibrium. The initial rate of adsorption, h o, was calculated, it was found to increase with increasing temperature, while the increase in MB concentration decreased h o at the lower concentration range then increased h o again at high concentration. The value of the activation coefficient, E, was found to be 8.207 kJ/mol, which indicates a diffusion controlled process.