Removal of Cationic Dye of Methylene Blue from Aqueous Solutions Using Tea Seed Meal

Most of dyestuffs discharged into environment from textile industries are toxic and can cause serious dangers harms to aquatic and human lives. Unfortunately some of them are difficult to biodegrade by microorganisms. Therefore; they require proper treatment before discharge into the rivers or environment. Among the various water treatment methods used for dye removal, adsorption and biosorption are more popular and economic. In this research, tea seed meal (TSM) was used for removal of methylene blue (MB) as a typical cationic dye from aqueous solutions. Adsorption experiments were conducted in a batch system. The effects of several factors, including pH, contact time, initial dye concentration, adsorbent dosage, temperature and ionic strength on sorption were evaluated. The adsorption isotherms are described by means of the Langmuir and Freundlich isotherms. Based on the linear regression analysis (R2) it was found that equilibrium data fitted well with Langmuir isotherm. Optimum pH value for dye adsorption was determined as 7.0. Maximum adsorption capacity (Qmax) was calculated 128.205 mg/g. The adsorption process attains equilibrium within 20 min. The results indicate that very low cost abundant material of the tea seed meal can be used as an effective adsorbent for removal of methylene blue from aqueous solution such as textile wastewaters

Keywords:

Adsorption , Methylene blue , Tea seed meal , Batch system , Isotherms