Adsorption of Reactive Blue 19 onto activated carbon prepared from pomegranate residual by phosphoric acid activation: Kinetic, Isotherm and Thermodynamic studies

In this study, the adsorption of Reactive blue 19 onto pomegranate residual-based activated carbon PRAC was investigated in aqueous solution. The activated carbon prepared by phosphoric acid activation under air condition. PRAC was characterized for its surface chemistry by point of zero charge measurements, Scanning Electron Microscopy and nitrogen adsorption at 77 K. The effect of operational parameters including contact time, initial pH, adsorbent dose, initial dye concentration and particle size were studied. Results showed that an optimum dye removal efficiency 96.7 was observed at initial pH11, contact time5minutes, adsorbent dose3.25 g/L, initial dye concentration200 mg/L, and particle size63-149µm. The adsorption process was found to follow the Temkin isotherm equation R20.975 and second-order kinetic model R20.999. Furthermore, Thermodynamic parameters such as ΔG0, ΔH0, and ΔS0 were calculated.