Adsorption of auramine-O using activated globe artichoke leaves : kinetic and isotherm studies

Abstract

The aim of this work was to study the removal of auramine-O (Au-O) from aqueous solution using powder prepared from globe artichoke leaves chemically activated with NaOH solution. The physico-chemical characteristics of the samples were performed and the characterization by FT-IR analysis has been carried out to examine the structure of globe artichoke leaves before and after activation. Scanning electron microscope was used to analyze the surface change of the globe artichoke leaves before and after adsorption of dye solution. A comparison of two models on the overall adsorption rate showed that the kinetic of adsorption was better described by the pseudo-second order model. The equilibrium data fitted very well to Langmuir model with maximum monolayer adsorption capacity of 344.8 mg g-1 at 298 K. This study shows that the globe artichoke leaves can be used as low cost alternative adsorbent for removal of auramine-O