SURFACE ASSIMILATION STUDIES FOR THE REMOVAL OF DYES FROM SYNTHETIC WASTEWATER FROM THE BIOMASS OF AZADIRACHTA INDICA

Environmental Engineering

Water, one of the essential resources for the survival of all living organisms, is not only limited to human beings alone but also for productive activities like agriculture, industrial activities, etc. Many industries have come up due to rapid industrialization which resulted in countless benefits as it plays a vital role in the economic development of underdeveloped and developing countries. Despite its benefits, the industrial sector is one of the global polluters as it consumes a large number of chemicals and fuels. Industries like plastic, paper, cosmetics, textile use dyes to color their products. The waste effluent from these industries leaves out the colored water, which, even at low concentrations is highly visible and undesirable. Adsorption, one of the effective methods for the removal of dyes from waste effluent, has an edge when compared to other methods due to its sludge-free clean operation. Activated charcoal is the most widely used adsorbent and in spite of its widespread use in various cleaning procedures, it remains expensive. The present study is aimed towards the development of an industrially viable, cost-effective, and environmentally compatible adsorbent for the removal of dyes from wastewater. The biomass of Azadirachta Indica (Neem) is used to prepare activated charcoal using NaOH as an activating agent. The prepared activated charcoal is tested for Batch studies with different parameters such as the effect of time, dosage, and pH. The removal efficiency and the adsorptive capacity are calculated. The prepared activated charcoal from Azadirachta Indica has shown the removal of Methylene blue dye to a maximum of 94.33% from synthetic wastewater. Adsorption kinetic studies were analyzed for the resulting data and it was found that the Pseudo second-order kinetic model was the best fit.

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