Performance evaluation of cement–carbon composite for adsorptive removal of acidic and basic dyes from single and multi-component systems

Abstract

Abstract In this investigation, cement–carbon composite (CCC) was synthesized, characterized and applied for removal of brilliant green (BG), methyl orange (MO) and methylene blue (MB) dyes from single, binary and ternary adsorption systems and its performance was compared with commercial activated carbon (GAC). Various kinetic models and isotherms were used to model the experimental data. Pseudo-second-order kinetic model and Langmuir isotherm have well exemplified experimental data describing chemisorption as the major mechanism involved in removal of dyes. The maximum adsorption capacity of CCC was found to be 21.50, 9.06 and 20.20 mg/g for BG, MB and MO in single-dye system, respectively. Subsequently, desorption of MB, BG and MO from CCC using distilled water was ∼ 31%, ∼ 19% and ∼ 30%, respectively, which was found to be greater than the desorption from GAC. This revealed that the recovery of dyes and regeneration potential of CCC was higher compared to GAC. The preparation cost of CCC was ∼ 50% lesser than ( ∼ 5.99 USD/kg) commercial GAC ( ∼ 11.87 USD/kg). Overall, CCC could be an alternative low-cost sorbent for dye(s) removal as the adsorption capacity of dye(s) per unit cost of CCC was 1.3–1.8 folds higher than GAC.