Wastewater Treatment Using Extraction Industries Wastes: Methyl Orange Removal By Bio-sorbent

In this study, as an alternative source of adsorbent for the removal of dyes from wastewaters, the leaves of Lamiacea specie which is a Medicinal and Aromatic Plant were used as an alternative and low cost biomaterial for feasibility study of Methyl Orange (MO) removal from wastewaters. Experiments were performed to investigate the impact of some parameters such as initial pH, temperature, dye initial concentration and adsorbent S/L ratio on the removal of MO. The results showed that an optimum of 70% of MO removal is reached at an ambient temperature T=25°C, for a biosorbent concentration of 13 to 16 (g/L) in acidic environments (pH=2). Kinetic experiments revealed that the adsorption of Methyl Orange onto the Lamiacea leaves can be described with pseudo second-order model and the equilibrium isotherm data were well described by the Langmuir I model. The maximum adsorption capacity of the biomass was found to be 70 mg/g at 25 ◦C. The proposed waste material collected from aromatic and flavors extraction industries may be proposed as suitable adsorbent for decolorization of industrial effluents due to its low cost; Thus, this preliminary study will be the base of future processes optimization and will be considered as model case studies for investigate other pollutants.