Biosorbent from Tomato Stems: Adsorption Properties Using Methylene Blue as Pollutant Test

Abstract

Dye removal from wastewater using activated carbons was the subject of much scientific research in recent decades. However, high–quality and inexpensive adsorbents production using biomass has attracted more attention from researchers. In this study, tomato stem–based bio–adsorbent was prepared for methylene blue (MB) removal from aqueous medium using batch mode adsorption. Activated carbon performance for MB adsorption was evaluated by studying several parameters effect such as contact time, solution initial pH, dye solution initial concentration, temperature and adsorbent dose. High adsorption percentage of more than 80% of dye was observed with initial pH of 11, contact time of 120 min, adsorbent dose of 3 g L–1 and temperature of 60°C. Adsorption isotherm and kinetic models results predict that Langmuir isotherm as well as pseudo–second–order kinetic would better describe adsorption process. The maximum monolayer adsorption capacity obtained according to Langmuir model was 4.15 mg g−1.