Organic Dyes Adsorption on the Almond Shell (Prunus dulcis) as Agricultural Solid Waste from Aqueous Solution in Single and Binary Mixture Systems

Abstract

Almond shell (AS) is a low-cost adsorbent used in this study for the removal of methylene blue (MB), crystal violet (CV), and Congo red (CR) from an aqueous solution in single and mixture binary systems. The low-cost adsorbent was characterized by FTIR and SEM analysis. The effects of AS dose, contact time, initial dye concentration, pH, and temperature on MB, CV, and CR adsorption were studied in a single system. In a binary system, the MB, CV, and CR were removed from the mixture of MB+CR, CV+MB, and CV+CR with a percentage in volume ranging from 0 to 100 % in MB and CV, and CR. Kinetic studies showed rapid sorption following a second-order kinetic model with of contact time of 10 min. The modulation of adsorption isotherms showed that retention follows the Langmuir model. The thermodynamic parameters proved that the MB, CV, and CR adsorption process was feasible, spontaneous, and exothermic. The synergy adsorption between dyes in a binary mixture of MB+CR and CV+CR, while the competition adsorption between dyes in a binary mixture of MB+ CV.