Oplismenus frumentαceus (Jhangora) husk for activated carbon preparation and its use in adsorption of Brilliant Green dye from aqueous solution

Environmental Chemistry Research Laboratory, Department of Chemistry, University of Allahabad,

Allahabad-211 002, Uttar Pradesh, India

E-mail: mcc46@rediffmail.com    Fax: 91-532-2541786

Department of Chemistry, Bose Institute, 93/1, A chary a Prafulla Chandra Road, Kolkata-700 009, India

Manuscript received online 09 October 2012, revised 14 October 2012, accepted 16 October 2012

In the present study, activated carbon had been prepared from \(Oplismenus\) \(frumentaceus\) (Jhangora) husk for the removal of Brilliant Green dye (BG) from aqueous solution. The surface study of \(Oplismenus\) \(frumentaceus\) husk activated carbon (OFHC) was investigated using Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Batch studies were performed to optimize various experimental parameters. Optimum conditions were found to be at initial pH = 7, contact time = 90 min and adsorbent dose = 4 g/L. The study also reveals that pH changes the structural stability of BG and its color intensity decreased as the pH increased. The equilibrium isotherm data were analyzed using Langmuir, Freundlich and Temkin isotherm model. It was found that Freundlich equilibrium isotherm best fits in the experimental data. The results clearly showed that the multi layer adsorption capacity of OFHC was 20.83 mg/g. The adsorption of BG onto OFHC followed pseudo-second order kinetics. Thermodynamic parameters such as ∆G° , ∆H° and ∆S° were also evaluated and the study reveals that adsorption of BG onto OFHC is favorably influenced by an increase in the temperature of the adsorption process. The experimental studies have indicated that OFHC could be employed as good alternative in wastewater treatment for the removal of BG.