Potassium carbonate-treated palm kernel shell adsorbent for congo red removal from water

Abstract

This work was aimed to evaluate the adsorptive characteristics of potassium carbonate-treated palm kernel shell adsorbent for the removal of congo red from water. The adsorbent was characterized according to the specific surface area, surface morphology and surface functional groups. The bottle-point technique was employed to investigate the equilibrium uptake and the adsorption kinetics of congo red, and the removal mechanisms were proposed from the widely used isotherm and kinetics models. Results show that the specific surface area of adsorbent increased after the treatment rendering the maximum congo red uptake of 8.0 mg/g. The removal of congo red obeyed Langmuir isotherm and pseudo-second-order kinetics model suggesting the chemically-attributed homogeneous adsorption. Regeneration of congo red-loaded adsorbent by irradiated water showed a better regeneration efficiency of 82%. Palm kernel shell is a promising adsorbent candidate for congo red removal from water.