Modeling the adsorption of dyes onto activated carbon by using experimental designs.

We used experimental design methodologies to obtain the response surface of the adsorption process for three acid dyes used in the dyeing step of a tanning process. The dyes were Acid Red 97, Acid Orange 61 and Acid Brown 425. The adsorption process was evaluated determining the concentrations of individual and total dyes remaining in solution at the end of the process. These concentrations were determined simultaneously in a single step using sequential injection analysis with multivariate curve resolution alternating least squares (SIA-MCR-ALS). This method involves fractional factorial designs and the steepest ascent method to find a zone of efficient adsorption and a response surface-modeling step to fit the relevant adsorption factors for the response.