Adsorption of Rhodamine-B by using Citrus peel powder: Influence of operating parameters

Department of Petrochemical Engineering, MAEER’s, Maharashtra Institute of Technology, Pune-411 038, Maharashtra, India *bSchool of Chemical Engineering, Dr. Vishwanath Karad MIT World Peace University, Pune-411 038, Maharashtra, India cDepartment of Chemical Engineering, Bharati Vidyapeeth (Deemed to be University) College of Engineering, Pune-411 043, Maharashtra, India dDepartment of Chemical Engineering, College of Engineering & Technology, Akola-444 104, Maharashtra, India eDepartment of Chemical Engineering, Dr. Vishwanath Karad MIT World Peace University, Pune-411 038, Maharashtra, India E-mail: niraj.topare@mitwpu.edu.in, nirajtopare06@gmail.com Manuscript received online 20 October 2020, revised and accepted 31 October 2020 Rhodamine-B (RB) is widely used for different purposes in industries such as printing and dyeing in paints, paper, leathers, textiles, etc. and may remain in high concentrations in surface water used as drinking water sources. In this study removal of RB from aqueous solution using Citrus peel powder (CPP) has been investigated. The influence of various factors such as the amount of a concentration of RB (20, 40, 60, 80 mg/L), adsorbent (CPP) dosage (0.5, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0, 2.5 g/L), pH (3, 5, 7, 9, 11), agitation speed (100, 200, 300 rpm) and temperature (40, 50, 60ºC) were studied. It has been found that maximum adsorption is occurring at 2 g/L amount of adsorbent, dye the concentration of 20 mg/L, pH of 3, agitation speed 300 rpm at 60°C. Equilibrium data were fitted to Langmuir and Freundlich isotherms and the equilibrium data were best described by the Langmuir isotherm model with 125 mg/g at 60°C. The values of their corresponding constants were determined from the slope and intercepts of their respective plots. The results of this study indicate that the adsorption is favorable and suggested that natural adsorbents can be utilized as adsorbent materials, because of their selectivity for the removal of RB from aqueous solutions. Keywords: Rhodamine-B, Citrus peel powder, adsorption isotherms, process parameter