Factors Influencing the Absorption of Textile Dye PRO004 Lemon Yellow Dye on Activated Carbon

Date of Award

5-2016

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Chemistry

First Advisor

Eid Alkhatib, Ph.D.

Abstract

Removal of dyes from the effluent released from textile industry poses a challenge because of the chemical stability of these dyes that make it difficult to remove them through conventional treatment approaches. Photocatalysis, oxidation, decomposition and adsorption have thus been explored as alternative approaches. This paper evaluated one of these alternatives, adsorption, by assessing whether activated carbon can effectively remove dyes dissolved in solution. The assessment was done first using pro004 Lemon yellow dye, where the dye's adsorption on carbon was assessed by measuring absorbance of the dye solution in presence of carbon using a Uv-Vis spectrophotometer. Factors that could affect the adsorption such as pH, salinity, contact time, hardness of water, type of carbon, and type of dye were also assessed by varying these factors and measuring absorbance of dye solutions when the factors were varied. Results of the study indicated that pH, hardness of water, salinity did not have any significant effect of the adsorption of the dye on the carbon. However, type of carbon, contact time, and type of the dye were shown to influence adsorption significantly. Effect of carbon on removal of dyes was clearly noted in all experiments conducted since solutions that had carbon in them had lower absorbance compared to solutions that did not have carbon. Further, absorbance in presence of carbon was noted to decrease with time, indicating the direct association of time with adsorption. Increasing dye concentration, on the other hand, led to increased absorbance, which indicated that higher concentration of dyes lowered adsorption. From these findings, it is clear that activated carbon can be used for removal of dyes from textile effluent and that the effectiveness of removal may be dependent on the time allowed for absorption. Lack of effect of pH in current study contrasts findings reported in other studies, and thus a need for further studies to assess effects of pH exist.

Comments

Master's thesis submitted to the faculty of Sacred Heart University's Chemistry Program in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Chemistry.

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