Removal of Methylene Blue Dye Using Saw Palmetto Fruit (Serenoa repens) Waste

Abstract

The feasibility of saw palmetto fruit (Serenoa repens) waste as a low-cost bio-sorbent for treating methylene blue dye from synthetic textile effluent was evaluated. Two different types viz., untreated and alkaline treated saw palmetto fruit waste was tested to immobilize methylene blue dye from the synthetic effluent solution. Out of these two, the only alkaline treated saw palmetto fruit waste was found suitable for the removal of methylene blue from aqueous streams. With the untreated saw palmetto fruit waste, the sorption of dye increased with time and after reaching equilibrium, back diffusion of the sorbed dye was observed. Equilibrium sorption and kinetic studies were performed with alkaline treated saw palmetto fruit waste and the parameters affecting the sorption process such as initial dye concentration, adsorbent dose, equilibrium time and temperature were analyzed. The kinetic data generated obeyed pseudo-second-order kinetics. The investigated removal capacity of the saw palmetto fruit waste for the methylene blue dye was comparable with the available sorbents.