Eco-friendly treatment of textile dye from aqueous solution using encapsulated biosorbent matrix beads: kinetics and breakthrough analysis

In this study, Moringa oleifera-encapsulated alginate beads (MEA) were synthesized using Ca-alginate for the removal of anionic blue-FFS (AB-FFS) dye from an aqueous solution. The synthesized beads were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and Brunauer– Emmett–Teller (BET) methods. The influences of initial pH, initial dye concentration and temperature were established in batch mode. The equilibrium biosorption obeyed both the Langmuir and Freundlich isotherm models with Qmax of MEA of about 76.92 mg/g at 343 K. Based on thermodynamic data, it was found that the biosorption process was endothermic and spontaneous. Fixed bed column studies were conducted using different parameters such as flow rate and bed height of the biosorbent. The data obtained were fitted with well-established models, namely Thomas and Yoon–Nelson. Desorption of beads could be achieved by a minimum of five successive cycles without significant loss of initial dye concentration in the batch mode. Experimental results indicate that MEA appears to be a promising biosorbent material used for treating the textile wastewater