Journal of Environmental Biology

Studies on the utility of plant cellulose waste for the

bioadsorption of crystal violet dye

 

S. Mahesh*, G. Vijay Kumar and Pushpa Agrawal

 

Department of Biotechnology, R.V. College of Engineering, R.V. Vidyaniketan Post, Mysore Road, Bangalore - 560 059, India

(Received: September 11, 2008; Revised received: April 12, 2009; Accepted: April 24, 2009)

 

Abstract: Several synthetic dyes employed in textile and food industries are discharged into aquatic environment. These visible pollutants in water damage environment, as they are carcinogenic and toxic to humans. The use of cost effective and ecofriendly plant cellulose based adsorbents have been studied in batch experiments as an alternative and effective substitution of activated carbon for the removal of toxic dyes from waste water. Adsorbents prepared from sugarcane baggase, were successfully used to remove certain textile dye such as crystal violet from an aqueous solution. The present investigation potentiate the use of sugarcane baggase, pretreated with formaldehyde (referred as Raw Baggase) and sulphuric acid (referred as Chemically Activated Baggase), for the removal of crystal violet dye from simulated waste water. Experiments were carried out at neutral pH with various parameters like dye concentration, temperature, contact time and adsorbent dosage. Efficiency of raw baggase was found better than chemically activated baggase for adsorption of crystal violet dye. The data obtained perfectly fits in the Freundlich adsorption isotherm.

Key words: Chemically activated baggase, Cellulose, Peel, Adsorption isotherm

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