Soybean hull as an alternative biosorbent to uptake a reactive textile dye from aqueous solutions

The textile industries are responsible for generating large volumes of effluents containing toxic dyes, harmful to ecosystems if disposed of without prior treatment. The adsorption process stands out due to its simplicity and efficiency in removing a wide variety of contaminants present in effluents, also, it allows the use of residual biomass from agriculture. The soybean hull is a by-product of wide available but made used only for animal feed. Thus, the present study aimed to characterize and evaluate the soybean husk as a biosorbent of the 5G blue reactive dye, widely used in the dyeing processes of the textile industries. The soybean hull was characterized by SEM and FTIR. Kinetic and equilibrium tests were carried out under conditions of pH 2, 40 ºC, and 90 rpm. Besides, kinetic and equilibrium mathematical models previously described in the literature were adjusted to the experimental data. Through the morphological characterization of the biosorbent, it was possible to evidence superficial pores in practically all their extension, a characteristic that directly influences the adsorption process. The analysis of FTIR showed, as expected, the presence of functional groups characteristic of lignocellulosic substances. Besides, the results obtained in the kinetic and equilibrium essays in the studied conditions show that the adsorption equilibrium was obtained in about 120 min, with the removal of 88% of the dye. The mathematical modeling indicated that the pseudo-second order and Sips models were the most adequate to represent the kinetic and equilibrium experimental data, respectively. The maximum adsorption capacities calculated experimentally and predicted by the Sips model were 53.33 and 48.13 mg g-1, respectively. In general, the biosorbent studied was effective to remove the reactive dye.Keywords: textile effluent; biosorption; agroindustrial waste.