Adsorption of textile dye using para-aminobenzoic acid modified activated carbon: Kinetic and equilibrium studies

Abstract

Abstract In this study, para-aminobenzoic acid functionalized activated carbon (PABA@AC) was successfully synthesized and applied as an adsorbent for removal of malachite green dye (MG) from aqueous system. For characterization of the prepared PABA@AC composite, (FT-IR), (SEM) and (EDX) were used. Impact of many parameters such as pH, amount of PABA@AC composite (m), contact time (t), temperature (T), initial MG concentrations (Co) upon MG adsorption using PABA@AC was investigated to estimate the optimum parameter conditions for adsorption. The results showed that the optimized parameter values of pH solution, contact time, adsorbent dose, and temperature were 7, 240\u202fmin, 30\u202fmg and 25\u202f°C, correspondingly. The isotherm adsorption and kinetic studies showed that the adsorption process was well fitted to Langmuir isotherm and Pseudo-first-order kinetic models, respectively. The maximum MG adsorption capacity was 66.87\u202fmg/g by Langmuir model. The thermodynamic studies showed that the adsorption process was exothermic and spontaneous.