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Adsorption of methylene blue dye from aqueous solution using low-cost adsorbent: kinetic, isotherm adsorption, and thermodynamic studies

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Abstract

Fig leaf, an environmentally friendly byproduct of fruit plants, has been used for the first time to treat of methylene blue dye. The fig leaf-activated carbon (FLAC-3) was prepared successfully and used for the adsorption of methylene blue dye (MB). The adsorbent was characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and the Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET). In the present study, initial concentrations, contact time, temperatures, pH solution, FLAC-3 dose, volume solution, and activation agent were investigated. However, the initial concentration of MB was investigated at different concentrations of 20, 40, 80, 120, and 200 mg/L. pH solution was examined at these values: pH3, pH7, pH8, and pH11. Moreover, adsorption temperatures of 20, 30, 40, and 50 °C were considered to investigate how the FLAC-3 works on MB dye removal. The adsorption capacity of FLAC-3 was determined to be 24.75 mg/g for 0.08 g and 41 mg/g for 0.02 g. The adsorption process has followed the Langmuir isotherm model (R2 = 0.9841), where the adsorption created a monolayer covering the surface of the adsorbent. Additionally, it was discovered that the maximum adsorption capacity (Qm) was 41.7 mg/g and the Langmuir affinity constant (KL) was 0.37 L/mg. The FLAC-3, as low-cost adsorbents for methylene blue dye, has shown good cationic dye adsorption performance.

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The dataset utilized/analyzed during the current study will be available from the corresponding author upon request.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank the College of Sciences for Women, University of Babylon, for facilitating this work.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemistry, College of Sciences for Women, University of Babylon, Hilla, Iraq

    Safaa Talib Al-Asadi & Fouad Fadhil Al-Qaim

  2. College of Pharmacy, University of Al-Ameed, Karbala, Iraq

    Haider Falih Shamikh Al-Saedi

  3. Medical Physics Department, Al-Mustaqbal University College, 51001, Hillah, Babil, Iraq

    Issa Farhan Deyab

  4. Department of Biomaterials, Saveetha Dental College and Hospital, Saveetha Institute of Medical and Technical Sciences, Chennai, 600 077, India

    Hesam Kamyab

  5. Engineering Department, Razak Faculty of Technology & Informatics, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Jalan Sultan Yahya Petra, 54100, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

    Shreeshivadasan Chelliapan

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  1. Safaa Talib Al-Asadi
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Contributions

Safaa Talib Al-Asadi: wrote the first draft of the manuscript, did the experiments and organized the structure of the manuscript.

Fouad Fadhil Al-Qaim: analyzed the data and edited the final draft of the manuscript.

Haider Falih SHamikh Al-Saedi: collected the references and improved the final revised draft.

Issa Farhan Deyab: revised the whole manuscript and improved the structure of the final draft.

Hesam Kamyab: revised the whole manuscript and improvement the English language.

Shreeshivadasan Chelliapan: revised the whole manuscript and improvement the English language.

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Correspondence to Fouad Fadhil Al-Qaim.

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Al-Asadi, S.T., Al-Qaim, F.F., Al-Saedi, H.F.S. et al. Adsorption of methylene blue dye from aqueous solution using low-cost adsorbent: kinetic, isotherm adsorption, and thermodynamic studies. Environ Monit Assess 195, 676 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-023-11334-2

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