Fast and effective removal of textile dyes from the wastewater using reusable porous nano-carbons: a study on adsorptive parameters and isotherms.

In the present study, recyclable porous nano-carbons (PNCs) were used to remove textile dyes (mainly methylene blue, methyl orange, and rhodamine B) from an aqueous environment. Due to their high surface area and mesoporous nature, PNCs exhibited extremely fast and efficient adsorption behavior. PNCs synthesized at an elevated temperature of 1000 °C are used in batch experiments, as they showed maximum dye removal with high surface area. Batch mode was used to optimize operational parameters such as initial dye concentration, contact time, adsorbent dose and pH as a function of time. Within ~7 minutes of treatment, PNCs achieved a maximum removal efficacy of ~99 percent for methylene blue. The recyclability of PNCs was investigated, and it retained its efficiency even after seven cycles. The efficacy of PNCs in treating industrial water contaminated with methylene blue dye was assessed. Different adsorption isotherms were carried out to determine maximum amount of dye that can be adsorbed on to surface of PNCs. The maximum adsorption capacity attained using Langmuir isotherm for methylene blue was around 1216.54 mg g. Adsorption kinetics were applied on experimental data to identify the rate of adsorption. It was confirmed that novel onion peel-based porous PNCs were successful in removing methylene blue dye effectively with short duration in comparison with other dyes mainly rhodamine B and methyl orange.