Adsorption Studies on Direct Yellow 17 by Varying the Concentration of MgO in Sorel’s Cement

The discharge of untreated effluents into nearby water bodies or nearby land is not only aesthetically displeasing, but it also restricts light penetration, thus upsetting biological processes within a stream. In addition, many dyes are toxic to some organisms causing direct destruction of aquatic communities. Some dyes can cause allergic dermatitis, skin irrigation, cancer and mutation in man. Recent estimates indicate that, approximately, 12% of synthetic textile dyes used each year is lost during manufacture and processing operation and 20% of these dyes enter the environment through effluents that result from the treatment of residual industrial waters [1] . Effluents from dyeing industries are released into nearby land or rivers without any treatment because the conventional treatment or methods are not cost effective in the Indian context. On the other hand, low cost technologies never allow an effective color removal and also have certain disadvantages. The adsorption is one of the most effective methods and Sorel’s cement is used as adsorbent to treat effluent containing different classes of dyes, recognizing the economic drawback of commercial Sorel’s cement. Many researchers have studied the feasibility of using inexpensive alternative materials like coconut husk [2] , pearl millet husk, date pits, saw dust, buffing dust of leather industry [3] , coir pith, crude oil residue, tropical grass, olive stone and almond shells, pine bark, wool waste, etc., as carbonaceous precursors for the removal of dyes from water and wastewater [3,4] . The present study is undertaken to evaluate the efficiency of Sorel’s cement by varying the concentration of MgO by keeping the constant strength of MgCl2 and FeCl3, for removal of Direct Yellow 17 dye in an aqueous solution. In order to design on adsorption treatment system, knowledge of the kinetic and mass transfer processes is essential. In this paper, we report the applicability of kinetic models for the adsorption of Direct Yellow 17 (DY17) onto Sorel’s cement by varying concentration of MgO. 2. MATERIALS AND METHODS