Removal of Congo red dye from Aqueous Solution Using Sawdust Adsorbent Obtained from cordia African plant

ADVISOR: SHIBIRU YADETA (PhD)

ABSTACT

The removal of dyes from the industrial wastewater is environmentally significant.Adsorption has been considered as one of the most effective methods to remove dyes from aqueous solutions due to its ease of operation, high efficiency and wide adaptability. The aim of this research work is to remove Congo red dye from water using saw dust adsorbent. Batch adsorption were carried out in liquid phase to observe the effect of various experimental parameters as; pH, contact time, temperature, initial concentration of Congo red, adsorbate dose and the optimum conditions for these parameters were evaluated. The result showed that a maximum 63.29% of the dye was removed at the optimum conditions. Various characteristics of the saw dust material which is responsible for the adsorption were also examined by FTIR. The adsorption isotherms was carried out and best fitting models for isotherms seemed to agree better the Freundlich isotherm than Langmuir isotherm. The outcomes indicated that saw dust can be used as a good low cost alternative for the treatment of Congo red effluents in water. From the kinetics study, the adsorption processes follows pseudo-second-order, indicates its suitabilityfor liquid /solid adsorption.So saw dust can be a better future replace of activated carbon for adsorption of organic dyes from aqueous solutions.

Keyword: Congo red, Adsorption, sawdust, Batch operations, adsorption isotherm