Potential for hydrothermally separated groundnut shell fibers for removal of methylene blue dye

Abstract

Textile dyes are considered to be hazardous waste for the environment. Treatment with eco-friendly way is the only solution to protect the environment from this hazardous material. The present research focused on the removal of textile dyes with bio adsorbents. This research work aims to extract fibers from waste groundnut shells (GNS) as a bio adsorbent. The efficiency of the obtained fiber mass as an adsorbent was examined over a dye to gauge its adsorbing potential and expulsion. For the purpose stated, Methylene Blue Dye (MBD) was selected as a model dye. The potential capacity of the obtained groundnut shell fibers (GNSF) was studied by optimizing various parameters such as pH, temperature, initial dye concentration, adsorbent dosage, agitation, and contact time in the batch study. The percentage removal of dye achieved by the fibers obtained from the groundnut shell was 99.5% at mixing speed 150 RPM; temperature 25 °C; dye concentration 10 mg/L; adsorbent dosage: 5 mg/L and time 24 h. The extracted fibers and adsorbed fibers were characterized using FTIR, XRD, and SEM analysis to study various properties such as functional group, chemical characteristics, and morphological studies. The obtained results were well fitted in Langmuir isotherm, Freundlich isotherm, and Temkin isotherm models. The Freundlich model fits the best.