Adsorption of dye by natural and modified wood dust

Abstract

Presence of color impurity as an effluent poses a significant risk to the environment and human health. Industrial effluents mostly go untreated into the water streams and render it unfit for the use. Existing methods for effluent treatment such as charcoal adsorption are less effective, costly and less ecological friendly in nature. Hence a lot of research is going on throughout the globe for finding a low cost and efficient adsorbent. In the present work Pine wood dust is used as an adsorbent for Methylene Blue dye. This wood dust is modified with Acetic acid to increase its adsorption efficiency. Acetic acid reacts with the cellulose present in the wood dust and forms Cellulo-acetate at its surface which enhances its adsorption capacity. With modification of wood dust with Acetic acid the adsorption efficiency increased from 75% to 84% approximately. Adsorption efficiency of modified wood dust increased with decrease in pH. The adsorption process was found to be endothermic in nature. Hence it is an excellent adsorbent for removing the Methylene Blue dye from waste effluents of industries.