Removal of safranin-O dye from aqueous solution using acid activated red mud

Abstract

The removal of Safranin-O dye from water by using activated red mud was studied in batch equilibrium technique. The effect of initial concentration, adsorbent dose, pH and contact time on the adsorption were investigated. The removal of safranin-O was expressed with Langmuir and Freundlich isotherm. The characterization and mechanism of adsorption of Safranin-O on ARM was studied using instrumental technique like SEM, XRD and FTIR. With gradual increase in pH the percentage of removal was found to be increase gradually and maximum removal was obtained at pH 8. The adsorption kinetic study shows that the adsorption process is pseudo-second-order kinetics. The adsorption data shows linearly transformed Langmuir isotherm with R2= 0.9866. Hence, the result indicates that ARM can be used as a low cost adsorbent and effective adsorbent for the waste water containing Safranin-O