Single and multicomponent equilibrium studies for the adsorption of acidic dyes on carbon from effluents

The ability of activated carbon to adsorb three acidic dyes, namely, Acid Blue 80 (AB80), Acid Red 114 (AR114), and Acid Yellow (AY117), from wastewater has been studied at 20 degrees C. The three single-component systems and the three binary equilibrium systems have been measured experimentally. The three single-component isotherms were analyzed using the Langmuir, Freundlich, Redlich-Peterson, and Sips equations. The Redlich-Peterson equation gave the lowest errors using the sum of the squares of the errors closely followed by the Sips and Langmuir equations; the Freundlich fits were significantly worse. The three bisolute experimental equilibrium sets of data were analyzed by incorporating the previous four single-component isotherm equations into the ideal adsorbed solution theory (IAST). The solution methods for each of the four isotherm equations are presented in the paper, and the predicted results for the three bisolute systems, using the four isotherm equations, are compared. For the three bisolute systems (AB80 + AR114, AB80 + AY117, and AR114 + AY117), the Redlich-Peterson isotherm gives the best correlation with the experimental isotherm data.