Adsorption of violet B by agricultural waste of soft pistachio shells

In this study, inexpensive agricultural waste pistachio sells was used for adsorption of violet B. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and scanning electron microscope (SEM) were used to characterize the pistachio shells. The morphology of pistachio shell was studied by SEM and it showed the porous structure of pistachio shells. Different parameters like contact time, pH and mass of sorbent were investigated. The adsorption is dependent on pH of the medium where the removal efficiency increases as the pH turns to 11. The contact time studies showed that 45 min shaking time was sufficient to achieve the equilibrium. The reaction kinetics data were analyzed using two reactions kinetic of pseudo-first-order reaction model and pseudo-second-order reaction model, and it was found that the removal of violet B followed the pseudo-second order reaction model.Keywords: Adsorption, violet B, agricultural waste, pistachio shell. Afr. J. Biotechnol. Vol. 12 No. 5