Loofa egyptiaca as a novel adsorbent for removal of direct blue dye from aqueous solution

In this paper, Loofa egyptiaca (LE), an agricultural plant cultivated in Egypt, was used to prepare low-cost activated carbon (LE(C1) and LE(C2)) adsorbents. The adsorbents (LE, LE(C1) and LE(C2)) were evaluated for their ability to remove direct blue 106 dye from aqueous solutions. Batch mode experiments were conducted using various parameters such as pH, contact time, dye concentration and adsorbent concentration. The surface chemistry of LE, LE(C1) and LE(C2) was analyzed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The experimental data were examined using Langmuir, Freundlich, Temkin and Harkins-Jura isotherms. The results showed that the adsorption of direct blue 106 was maximal at the lowest value of pH (pH=2). Removal efficiency was increased with an increase in dye concentration and a decrease in amount of adsorbent. Maximum adsorption capacity was found to be 57.14, 63.3 and 73.53 mg/g for LE, LE(C1) and LE(C2) respectively. Kinetics were also investigated using pseudo-first-order, pseudo-second-order and intra-particle diffusion models. The experimental data fitted very well with the pseudo-first-order and pseudo-second-order kinetic models. The results indicate that LE, LE(C1) and LE(C2) could be employed as adsorbents for the removal of direct blue dye from aqueous solutions.