Application of Novel Magnetic Activated Carbon-Zeolite Y- Alginate Composites for Removing Organic Dyes
Authors: Russo Nicholas , Sabir Ameel , Ortega. Dairina Hernandez , Quach Qui , Abdel-Fattah Tarek M 
Published: February 2024

Adsorbent materials have been utilized for removing many pollutants ranging from metal ions to organic materials from aqueous media [1-10]. Organic dyes are a common and diverse group of effluents that are common byproducts of the textile, printing, and cosmetics industries. Dyes can be classified as being either cationic or anionic, and frequently contain harmful azo groups along with having aromatic structures, making them known to have toxic, mutagenic, and carcinogenic effects. While traditionally organic dye removal has been handled through the use of traditional adsorbents such as activated carbon or zeolite, their high cost and difficulties in contact medium removal have led to the development of nanomagnetic adsorbents due to their cost efficiency and ease of separation. A persistent issue common to both the traditional and nanomagnetic adsorbents is their non-biodegradability, thus this study aims to investigate the use of alginate bead adsorbent encasing magnetic activated carbon and zeolite Y for the removal of Methylene Blue (MB), a cationic dye, and Congo Red (CR), an anionic dye from aqueous media. Alginate composites were characterized by Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (EDS). Adsorption characteristics of alginate beads were analyzed for the effects of changing adsorbent mass, temperature, pH, and competing ions through batch experimentation. Kinetics testing was also performed in order to determine the order of the reaction. Isotherm studies show that the alginate beads highest removal efficiency to be 73% for MB and 58% for CR at dosages of 4000 mg L-1 (0.2g beads, 50 ml of solution). Adsorption of both MB and CR were found to be best modeled by the Freundlich isotherm models with R2 values of 0.93 and 0.85, respectively. Maximum adsorption capacities were 1054.1 mg g-1 and 365.5 mg g-1 for MB and CR, respectively. Competing ion testing with KNO3 was shown to greatly improve both MB and CR adsorption at low concentrations. Results from this study suggest that alginate beads show promise in the removal of cationic dyes, with some use with anionic dyes as well.

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