Utilization of Modified Gloriosa superba Waste as an Adsorbent for the Removal of Reactive Dyes from Aqueous Solutions

Carbon prepared from Gloriosa superba pericarp was used to remove reactive orange 107 and reactive black 5 from aqueous solution by adsorption technique under varying conditions of agitation time, dye concentration, adsorbent dose and pH. Adsorption depended on solution pH, dye concentration, carbon concentration and contact time. Equilibrium was attained at 165 minutes and 105 minutes for reactive orange 107 (RO 107) and reactive black (RB 5) dye, respectively. Increase in biomass dosage increased the adsorption. Adsorption capacity (Q ) of Reactive black 5 was 23.92mg/g which was higher than Reactive orange 107 o (21.72mg/g). The second-order kinetic model by Ho and Mckay described well the experimental data. Acidic pH was favorable for the adsorption of both dyes studied. Studies on pH effect and desorption show that chemisorptions seems to play a major role in the adsorption process. Among the reactive dyes studied, reactive black showed better adsorption capacity. Thus utilization of Gloriosa superba pericarp waste for reactive dye removal has potential application in dyeing industry wastewater treatment.