Decolourisation of malachite green dye by potassium carbonate-treated kernel shell adsorbent

Abstract

The present study attempts to utilise potassium carbonate-treated kernel shell adsorbent for the decolourisation of malachite green solution. The adsorbent was characterised using FESEM, surface area analyser and FTIR. The bottle-point-technique was used to evaluate the adsorptive characteristics of kernel shell adsorbent. Results show that the equilibrium data are better represented by the Langmuir isotherm with the maximum malachite green removal of 15 mg/g. The pseudo-first-order model fitted well to the kinetics data, suggesting the diffusion-type adsorption of malachite green onto the kernel shell adsorbent. The chemically-treated kernel shell adsorbent is a potential candidate for the decolourisation of cationic dye in water.