Wastewater containing dye is harmful to the environment. Methylene blue (MB) dye can be removed from wastewater using low-cost, renewable adsorbents. In this study, modified biochar (Biochar-FexOy), pristine biochar and FexOy were fabricated, characterized, and investigated for their performance to remove MB dye from wastewater. The Biochar-FexOy (85.1 mg/g) showed increased adsorption capacity in comparison to biochar (60.1 mg/g) and FexOy (50 mg/g) at an optimum pH of 8 due to the increase in surface area, porosity, and deposition of metal ions on its surface for adsorption. The enhanced MB adsorption by the Biochar-FexOy can be attributed to electrostatic attraction, hydrogen bonding, π-π interactions, and possible cationic exchange as evidenced by the result of the FTIR, EDX, and XRD analysis. Moreover, the adsorption of MB dye by the Biochar-FexOy showed an antagonistic effect in the presence of NaHCO3− and NaCl salt but showed a synergistic effect in the presence of Cu (II) ions. The Langmuir and pseudo-second-order isotherm model best describe the adsorption process of MB dye over the Biochar-FexOy. The adsorption capacity was still high after 4 regeneration cycles for the Biochar-FexOy which concludes that modified biochar can be effectively utilized for dye wastewater treatment. Finally, the fixed-bed column adsorption performance demonstrated that Biochar-FexOy could be used to polish real secondary textile industry effluents prior to treatment.
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