ADSORPTION OF INDIGO BLUE DYE USING ACTIVATED AND UN-ACTIVATED DATE SEED POWDER.

ABSTRACT

Dyes are a major staple in the textile industry. Their presence in the wastewater from textile industries cause environmental problems due to the presence of pollutants in dyes that contaminate water. Therefore, wastewater from textile industries must be properly treated. The aim of this research project is to study the performance of un-activated and activated date seed powder in the adsorption of indigo blue dye from water. The dye-water solution was simulated by dissolving indigo blue dye in distilled water. The effects of three adsorption process variables: adsorbent dosage (g), contact time (minutes), and dye concentration (mg/L) were evaluated using response surface methodology. The range of values considered for the process variables are 0.5g-2.5g for adsorbent dosage, 30-150 minutes for contact time, and 20-100mg/L for dye concentration. A UV-vis spectrophotometer was used to obtain the concentrations of the dye solutions after adsorption experiments. The highest % of dye adsorbed for un-activated date seed powder was 72.38% and 53.08% for activated date seed powder. The software “Design Expert 13” was used to observe the dynamics between and the effects of the different process variables. Model predictions were compared to experiment result for both adsorbents to obtain a coefficient of determination of 0.8979 and 0.9038 respectively. Further analysis on the results were carried out, and the process variables were optimized using the design expert software to arrive at the optimal conditions for dye adsorption: 0.5g of date seed powder, dye concentration of 100mg/L, and a contact time of 30 minutes. The optimal result for un-activated date seed powder was gotten as 75.59%, and that for activated date seed powder was gotten as 46.08%. The conclusion of this project research centered on the performance of both activated and un-activated date seed powder as cost-effective adsorbents.