REACTIVE AZO DYE ADSORPTION USING ZEOLITIC MATERIAL: CONTACT TIME, pH, TEMPERATURE AND EFFECT OF SALTS

Abstract

Textile effluents, when not correctly treated, cause a high impact to the environment. The synthetic dyes are used in the fibber dying process, but part of them is discarded to receiving water body. The adsorption is a technique that has been used successfully for an effective removal of color. In this work, the adsorption of reactive dye Remazol Red RB from aqueous solution using zeolite of coal ash as low cost adsorbent was studied. The zeolite was synthesized by hydrothermal treatment with NaOH solution. The effect of experimental parameters such as contact time, pH, temperature and adding salt was investigated. The kinetics studies indicated that the adsorption followed the pseudo-second-order model with correlation coefficients > 0.99. The equilibrium was reached after 360 min of contact time. The experimental data were analyzed using Langmuir and Freundlich isotherm models and the data fitted well to the Langmuir isotherm. The maximum adsorption capacity of zeolite of coal ash for Remazol Vermelho RB was 1.20 mg g-1 with adsorption efficiency between 75 and 91%. The dye adsorption was more efficient in the presence of salts.