Sugarcane bagasse pith as a low cost adsorbent for the removal of Methylene Blue from wastewater

Abstract

Adsorption of methylene blue dye (MB) onto sugarcane bagasse pith from Pelwatte Sugar planl was studied to enable comparison with alternative commonly available adsorbents. Batch experiments were conducted to determine the effect of adsorbent dose, initial dye concentration and to obtain equilibrium data. Sugarcane bagasse pith is capable of binding appreciable amounts of methyl blue dye from aqueous solutions. The equilibrium data were satisfactorily fitted to Langmuir and Freundlich isotherms. Highest dye uptake of 40 mg/g TOS observed. Fixed bed column experiments were performed to study practical applicability and breakthrough curves were obtained. Breakthrough curve data fits to Yoon-Nelson modeI and bed capacities for methylene blue adsorption was 22 mg/g.