Removal of Brilliant Blue R and Victoria Blue R dyes from textile wastewater by adsorption method using pomegranate peel

Abstract

This study investigated the removal of Brilliant Blue R (BBR) and Victoria Blue R (VBR), commonly used dyes in the textile industry, from wastewater using the pomegranate peel with an adsorption method. Pomegranate peel was characterized by using X-ray diffraction (XRD), Brunauer, Emmet ve Teller (BET), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier transform infrared spectrophotometer (FT-IR), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), and zeta potential. For both dyes, pH, adsorbent amount, contact time, salt effect, and wastewater parameters were investigated in the batch system, while adsorbent amount and flow rate parameters were investigated in the continuous system. The adsorption results of both dyes on pomegranate peel indicate that they fit the pseudo-second-order kinetic model. The adsorption isotherms of both dyes were found to be compatible with the Langmuir isotherm model. In the thermodynamic study, it was determined that the adsorption process was spontaneous (∆G°<0) and exothermic (∆H°<0). It was decided that pomegranate peel is a suitable adsorbent for the adsorption of BBR and VBR dyes. Finally, the adsorption yields for removing BBR and VBR from wastewater using pomegranate peel were 90.38% and 100%, respectively. This result shows that the high adsorption efficiency obtained for both dyes makes it possible for pomegranate peel to be widely applied as an adsorbent in wastewater treatment.