Extraction of Methylene Blue Dye from Polluted Waters Using Some Bio- Adsorbents

Sorbents derived from roots of Tephrosia purpurea, leaves and stems of Terminalia Arjuna and Bivalve snail shells have been explored for their sorption abilities towards Methylene Blue using synthetically prepared simulated waste waters. It is found that at high pHs, these bio-materials have shown strong affinity towards Methylene Blue. The physicochemical properties such as pH, sorbent concentration and time of equilibration have been optimized for the maximum removal of Methylene Blue from waste waters. Methodologies have been developed to extract good quantities of the dye. The roots powder of Tephrosia Purpurea has been proved to very effective even at 1.0 gm/500 ml of the sorption concentration at pH :8 or 10. More than 95.0% of extraction of Methylene Blue has been found with the bark powders of Terminalia Arjuna at all pH of study viz., 2-10. Interference of Fivefold excess of common anions and cations present in natural waters, have been studied. Anions have not interfered while Cation like Ca, Mg and Cu have shown some interference but Fe and Zn have synergistically maintained the maximum extraction of the dye. The procedures developed have been successfully applied to some industrial effluent.