Sustainable removal of anodized aluminum dye by groundwater treatment waste: experimental and modeling

Abstract

Groundwater treatment waste (GWTW), as an environmentally friendly renewable nanomaterial, was implemented for the removal of anodized aluminum dye Sanodure Green (SG) from aqueous solutions. The capability of the SG metal complex dye removal was assessed by measuring solution decoloration and chromium elimination degree. GWTW was characterized using FTIR, SEM, EDX, TEM, XPS and surface area measurements. Kinetic curves were obtained by changing initial dye concentration, pH, temperature and adsorbent dose. Kinetic studies showed that up to 90 % of SG dye was removed within a contact time of 20 min. The adsorption of the dye was favourable at 293 K temperature in the acidic pH region (pH 1.5–2.0) with maximum adsorption capacity 185 mg g−1. Langmuir-Freundlich isotherm model as well as hyperbolic tangent, diffusion-chemisorption and Elovich kinetic models accurately describe the dye removal process. The calculated thermodynamic parameters confirmed that SG dye removal occurred spontaneously and exothermically. The magnitude of enthalpy change (ΔH° = −35.80 kJ mol−1) was in agreement with the electrostatic interaction. The adsorption potential of GWTW for SG dye removal was also evaluated using a real wastewater produced after dyeing of anodized aluminum.