Fixed-bed adsorptive removal of metanil yellow from simulated wastewater in a fixed-bed column by nitric acid-treated-H3PO4-activated carbon (NATPAAC) from oil palm fruit mesocarpfibre

Abstract

We carried out fixed-bed column adsorption of metanil yellow from simulated wastewater on NATPAAC derived from oil palm fruit mesocarpfibre so as to determine the adsorption capacity, qe, of the carbon under the effects of inlet concentration, Co, carbon bed height, H and dye solution flow rate, Q. Our results indicate that the optimum qe was 15.982 mg/g by Co 25 mg/L, H 4.1cm and Q 8 mL/min. In the study, qe was observed to decrease with increase in Co and Q. The optimum bed height was 4.1cm. Our experimental data were modelled by applying Thomas and Yoon-Nelson kinetic models. Correlation coefficient, R2 values (generally above 0.85) show that the two kinetic approaches provide an effective model of the experimental data. We conclude that oil palm fruit mesocarpfibre has potential as a precursor for production of carbon for acid-dye removal from wastewater